Simultaneous transplant of heart and both lungs done on 67 year old man - Polidicks

Sauce: [url]http://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/chennai/67yearold-gets-heartdouble-lung-transplant/article6299487.ece[/url] [quote]At one point, 67-year-old C.V Hanif was mostly confined to his home, entirely dependent on an oxygen cylinder and unable to completely take care of himself without help. Today, however, nearly five months after a heart and double lung transplant, the patient from Kerala is on the road to recovery and back on his feet with no special oxygen support. Mr. Hanif is the oldest recipient of such a procedure in the country, claimed doctors at Apollo Hospitals, where the surgery was performed in March this year. “The patient came to us with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, a condition in which an inflammation leads to the formation of scar tissue in the alveoli capillary membrane, in the gas-exchanging region of the lungs. This leads to very little exchange of gases and, therefore, lowered levels of oxygen the blood. At the end point, when there is end-stage lung and heart failure, there is no option but a transplant,” said Paul Ramesh, senior consultant cardiothoracic surgeon at the hospital. Though Mr. Hanif was on the transplant list, he was admitted late one March evening with extreme breathlessness and low blood pressure. “The procedure for someone as old as him is risky. But Mr. Hanif made it clear that he didn’t mind going ahead if there was a chance his quality of life would improve,” Dr. Ramesh said.[/quote] They've only performed about 4 such procedures, not counting this guy, so far in my city apparently.

Basically they just changed his engine. Go science.

Watch him live for another few decades.

[QUOTE=Shirky;45669566]Watch him live for another few decades.[/QUOTE] Probably not, he's got to be on tons of immunosupressants, hes just on borrowed time, maybe a few years maybe a decade, who knows

[QUOTE=TestECull;45669511]Basically they just changed his engine. Go science.[/QUOTE] If one day we can easily swap out our engine blocks like that, that'd be awesome.

[QUOTE=Sableye;45669763]Probably not, he's got to be on tons of immunosupressants, hes just on borrowed time, maybe a few years maybe a decade, who knows[/QUOTE] 5 year survival rate is only about 30-35% without any treatment. After transplantation it increases to anywhere between 50-55% (usual) to 75%.

[QUOTE=Sableye;45669763]Probably not, he's got to be on tons of immunosupressants, hes just on borrowed time, maybe a few years maybe a decade, who knows[/QUOTE] I know the heart/lungs are likely far from the same, but the girl I'm seeing had a kidney transplant when she was 6 years old with a kidney from a 50ish year old man. She's now 23 and going strong.

[QUOTE=Sableye;45669763]Probably not, he's got to be on tons of immunosupressants, hes just on borrowed time, maybe a few years maybe a decade, who knows[/QUOTE] Just think. Within the next ten (optimistically) years we'll be able to cook up new organs made from peoples' own stem cells. No more immunosuppressants needed.