Word: transplantation
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...MORE THAN TWO MONTHS, THE WORLD'S FIRST baboon-to-human liver transplant patient seemed to be improving. Doctors successfully treated a mild case of tissue rejection a few weeks after the ground-breaking 11-hour operation at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center. The problem did not recur, and by the end of July the new liver had tripled in size, matching a healthy human organ. But late last month a fever set in, followed by an infection -- possibly caused by an injection of X ray-sensitive dye. The liver began to fail, and then, within a week, though...
...cause of the bleeding was not immediately known, but doctors said it was probably not due to rejection -- which means the Pittsburgh team may try a similar transplant as early as the end of the year. The next time, the patient may be in better overall health: the hepatitis B that destroyed this man's own liver was just one of his medical problems...
...rays apparently caused the infection, and the patient's immune system, weakened by antirejection drugs, could not easily fight it. High doses of antibiotics reduced the resulting fever. But when tests showed the liver was excreting too little bile, the man's condition was downgraded to critical. A similar transplant on another patient was postponed until doctors resolve the situation...
...hardly the first time a human had received an animal transplant; kidneys and hearts have been shifted from chimpanzees, baboons and monkeys into people for decades, though never successfully. What may make the difference this time is an experimental antirejection drug known as FK-506; doctors hope it will keep the recipient's immune system from attacking the new liver as a foreign object. Though the patient had symptoms of a mild rejection reaction by week's end, it wasn't considered serious. Otherwise, said a hospital spokeswoman, "he's doing really well. It's almost scary...
Last year's speakers were Dr. Jonas Salk, whodeveloped the first polio vaccine in 1954;Professor of Surgery emeritus Dr. Joseph E.Murray, co-winner of the 1990 Nobel Prize inphysiology or medicine for performing the firstkidney transplant in 1954; and U.S. Secretary ofHealth and Human Services Dr. Louis Sullivan