Organ Transplants

In 1997, 40,000 persons needed a heart transplant, yet only 2,300 received one. Another 25,000 are waiting for other organs such as livers, pancreas', lungs, and kidneys. Over 500,000 persons need a cartilage transplant. Over 1,200,000 persons need a skin graft because of diabetes, cancer and burns. Unfortunately, very few persons will get a needed organ. Many persons will die without ever getting a transplant. Walter Payton died because of a rare bile gland cancer; they never found a liver transplant.

What do we do now? For years now, we have transplanted organs with remarkable success. Skin grafts are being used to help many persons suffering from disease and burns. Bone and bone marrow transplants are next.

There is a great demand for transplants of faces, larynx and muscle. There is an intermediate demand for breasts, bladder and intestines. Some organs are in low demand including the knee, ear, penis and scalp. Recently we also transplanted a hand from one person to another.

With the shortage of available organs, researchers have turned to other animals for organs. A transplant from one animal to another is called a xenotransplant. An animal that is physiologically similar to us is the pig. This is good. In the past, diabetics were often treated with insulin extracted from pig pancreas. Persons with a bad heart valve can receive a pig valve that will not be rejected.

• Why wouldn't a pig heart valve be rejected by a human?

As it stands, pigs are an ideal animal to work with.

• Why would pigs be an ideal animal to work with for providing organ transplants?

Any organ transplant will evoke an immune response. However, there are sufficient differences between us and pigs that our immune system would immediately reject a pig organ. How can we stop our immune system from attacking an organ from another animal? The potential answer to this problem is genetic engineering.

What do we propose for the future? The future is optimistic with the interdisciplinary work among the various disciplines of biology, materials sciences and electrical engineering. There is much research in neo-organs where it is possible to grow transplant organs from our own cells or the cells of others. People have frozen their bodies or parts of their bodies in anticipation that we will find new cures for diseases or we can transplant complex body parts such as a head from one person to another individual. Imagine if we could transplant organs such as a larynx to a person who suffered from throat cancer.