Hearts that are suitable for transplantation into needy recipients are always in short supply, and that’s partially because our methods of preserving and transporting the organs makes transplants extremely complicated. Currently, heart surgeons can transplant hearts from brain-dead patients; that is, patients who were on life support and whose hearts could be cooled and preserved prior to removal from the body.

But there are victims of traumatic death (those who are never on life support) whose hearts may stop before a surgical team can prepare them for removal. As soon as blood stops pumping, the tissue begins to die very quickly – within minutes, the otherwise-healthy organ becomes unusable. That’s why this device from Transmedics is a true miracle of medical technology. The “heart in a box” machine can keep a heart alive and beating, or even revive one that has already stopped beating.

By keeping the heart working and circulating blood, the box makes it possible to harvest many more hearts; they could even be collected from patients who have already died. Doctors already do this with kidneys, livers, and other organs that don’t deteriorate quite as rapidly as the heart. The heart in a box can increase the number of available hearts by 20 to 30 percent each year.

According to Transmedics, the heart in a box machine is part of a wider shift away from preserving organs on ice. The new method of keeping tissue warm, alive, and functional will save the lives of countless people who, with cold preservation, would otherwise die waiting on a live transplant. So far, eight trials have been completed with the device and all eight have resulted in successful heart transplants. For people on the transplant list, this is truly a life-changing development.

The post Heart in a Box: Device Revives Dead Hearts For Transplant first appeared on Gajitz.

Spinal cord regeneration was once an impossible dream for doctors and patients. Once a spinal cord injury rendered a patient paralyzed, there was nothing that could be done to repair the damage. A groundbreaking new treatment, however, has given the medical community new hope. The lucky recipient of the world’s first application of this treatment was Darek Fidyka, a Polish man who was paralyzed after being stabbed in the back in 2010. Researchers from the UK and Poland worked together to test the idea that olfactory bulbs – small structures in your brain that control your sense of smell – could help to regenerate cells in the spinal cord.

(image via: BBC News)

The team looked to cells from the olfactory bulb because olfactory nerves are the only part of the nervous system known to regenerate following an injury. The researchers removed one of Mr. Fidyka’s olfactory bulbs and grew cells from it – cells which were then injected at the injury site. Strips of nerve tissue from the patient’s ankle were placed on the gap in his spinal cord in the hopes that the injected cells would encourage regrowth. This method was tested successfully on dogs in 2012, but Mr. Fidyka was the first human patient.

After intensive physical therapy and some healing time, he has regained some sensation in his lower body. The most amazing result of the surgery, however, is that he is now able to walk with a walker just two years post-surgery. The research team is cautiously optimistic about the treatment, stating that they need to try the treatment in a larger number of patients with similar injuries before concluding that this is the answer for spinal cord repair. They also want to find a way to extract the needed cells in a less invasive manner than the brain surgery Mr. Fidyka had to undergo. In a stroke of luck, the patient has even retained his sense of smell even after having one olfactory bulb removed. The findings were published in the journal Cell Transplantation.

The post Smell of Victory: Paralyzed Man Walks After Nose Cell Graft first appeared on Gajitz.