Research study on transplants

TRANSPLANTS

What organs have been successful transplanted since 1950’s?:

Kidney, Kidney and Pancreas, Pancreas, Heart, Heart and lung together, Lung only, Liver/liver lobe

Which two of these are the most commonly transplanted?

In both the years 2007- 2008 and 2006-2007 it has been Kidney and Cornea.

Definitions

Autograft - “Tissue or bone transplanted from one site on an individual’s body to another site.”

Allograft - “An organ or tissue transplanted from one individual to another of the same species, i.e. human to human.”

Immunosuppression - “The artificial suppression of the immune response, usually through drugs, so that the body will not reject a transplanted organ or tissue.”

Xenotransplant - “Transplant of the organs of one species into another.”

Development in 1954

The development in 1954
The first ever successful transplant - a kidney transplant between teo identical twins “But in 1954 at the Peter Bent Brigham Hospital in Boston, a special kidney transpant case would succeed and teach medicine a great deal by confirming Medawar's results. Richard and Ronald Herrick were identical twins, but Richard was dying of kidney disease. Ronald donated one of his kidneys, and it was successfully transplanted into Richard. Because they were identical twins, the organ did not appear foreign to Richard's body, which did not reject it.”

The development was the idea of rejection of transplants through the immune system - immune response. This then lead to the use of immunosuppressant’s such as cyclosporine.
Transplants are not the idea of the 21st or 20th century. Transplants have been mentioned in the myths of ancient Greeks, and the transplants of eyes and skin were the first to be attempted.
The kidney was the first ever imbedded organ to be transplanted. The first kidney transplant patients had a good recovery at the start, but then died soon after.
It was only after Peter Medaw discovered that recipients formed antibodies against their transplants that the first successful transplant occurred- between two twins who would not reject their twins kidney as it was the same as theirs - not a foreign object.
After this, Doctors tried to find ways of “tricking” the body into not rejecting the transplanted new, healthy organ. The first way was by bombarding the patient with X-rays, but this lead to the death of many patients.
Doctors then discovered that drugs, such as cyclosporine could be used to suppress the immune system. The above development of ideas and techniques led to today’s transplant success.

1. Trends by number of donors
• They have been on a steady decline from 1995 - 2003., then increase in 2004. This could be down to a fierce advertising campaign done by the UK transplant organization.
2. Trends number of people receiving transplants
• This too has been on a gradual decrease until 2004 where it increased. This could be down to the number of donor’s increases, thus proving a relationship between the two.
3. Trends number people on transplant list
• This shows a massive steady increase in the number of people needing transplants- and it is way above the number of transplants. I think this is increasing because it is higher than the number of transplants- as more and more people are waiting.

What problems do these trends show?

Not enough transplants for the number of people needing transplants
This means it is costing the NHS money as if all the patients who needed a transplant on 1 January 2007 - 6200 patients, received one; it would save the NHS £150m per year.
The other economic factor is many of these patients who need a transplant die in waiting, meaning they are not earning money, not funding the economic life of Britain and not paying the taxes needed to fund the NHS
If people are dying form not having transplants, it usually means children are being left without a mother or father, what are the social consequences of this? This is surely detrimental to the Childs well-being and growing up.

How can present and future developments in Science and Technology overcome some of these problems?

Science and technology may help overcome these problems by the research being done into the possibility of Xenotransplants, where a organ is transplanted from one species to another.
Originally it was thought that primates could be used, such as chimpanzees, as their genome is “98% identical with the human genome” but many scientists think this unethical as chimpanzees, and many other primates, are endangered species.
The next, more likely alternative is to use pigs for this purpose, as they are of similar size and it would ethically ok as we already farm these animals and we already use heart valves successfully for replacing those damaged in humans.
However the human immune system will attack any pig tissue ruthlessly. The only way to overcome this is to genetically modify the pig, which is a possibility due to the advances in science.

What are the advantages of using animals as organ donors for humans?

• Easily make up for shortage

• This could mean saving for NHS, more taxes to help pay for more research.

• No social damages as you know your relatives/friends organs are in someone else’s body.

What are the disadvantages of using animals as organ donors for humans?

• There is a small possibility that there could be a transfer of pig or primates diseases with the transplant to the human which could seriously harm the patient and could even cause a large epidemic

• Animals have rights. Many believe that animals too have rights, just like humans, and therefore have the right to live without fear of murder and not be killed of the purpose of helping humans by providing organs for transplants and therefore we should not exploit the animals for our benefit.

• Scientists are “playing God” by genetically modifying the animals, and as said with argument on GM crops, we have yet to know what affect this will have on the environment and future generations.

References:
http://www.uktransplant.org.uk/ukt/statistics/latest_statistics/monthly.jsp

http://www.uktransplant.org.uk/ukt/about_transplants/transplantation_glossary/transplantation_glossary.jsp

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aso/databank/entries/dm54ki.html

http://www.uktransplant.org.uk/ukt/newsroom/fact_sheets/cost_effectiveness_of_transplantation.jsp

http://science.education.nih.gov/newsnapshots/TOC_Xeno/XenoRITN/xenoritn.html

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