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Science

Transplants from Dead Donors 9

Posted by michael from the it's-alive! dept.
deran9ed writes "Swedish surgeons have for the first time successfully transplanted a lung from a dead donor with no heart beat, using a new technique that could ease the worldwide shortage of donor organs. Organs used in transplants are normally removed after the donor has been declared dead but while the heart is still beating. The lung is cooled and preserved inside the donor's body so that it can be removed 12-24 hours after the heart has stopped beating."
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Transplants from Dead Donors More

Transplants from Dead Donors

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  • This reminds me a lot of the two hand transplants that have recently been performed. I recall reading from somewhere that the 'stiffs' the hands where taken from had been heart-dead for 6 hours on one and 9 on the other.

    The both the Hand transplant and the above Reuters stories didn't specifically address this, but I wonder how they dealt with the coagulation of the blood -- does the chilling of the cadaver prevent this?
  • mod YOU down.

    it IS broken, i get nothing.

  • Organs used in transplants are normally removed after the donor has been declared dead but while the heart is still beating

    How exactly does that work? I know that there are a few ways that doctors can decide if someone is dead, but say your brainwave activity stops completely. You're dead, right? And if there is no brainwave activity, then how can your heart continue to beat? Someone please fill me in on this, because I'm kinda confused here.
  • There are anti-coagulants, such as heparin, although you don't want uncontrolled bleeding during an operation, either. Some hand surgeons like hirudin, too. This is the substance blood-sucking leeches secrete so the blood doesn't coagulate during a meal. Just apply leeches, and no clots!
  • It also depends on the cause of brain death. One way brain death is defined is loss of cortical brain activity as shown with an electroencephalogram (EEG). IIRC, if the damage is located so that there is no higher activity, e.g. isolated head injury, but 'primitive' activity remains, there may even be spontaneous breathing as well as heartbeat. This generally excludes donation of organs though. If damage is severe, the lower functions will tend to deteriorate at some point.

  • Build a creature out of dead body parts.

    Igor, get me the brains.

  • The correct answer is: "That's frahnk-in-steen!"
  • From http://howstuffworks.com/heart4.htm
    The answer lies in a special group of cells that have the ability to generate electrical activity on their own. These cells separate charged particles. Then they spontaneously leak certain charged particles into the cells. This produces electrical impuses in the [heart's natural] pacemaker cells which spread over the heart, causing it to contract. These cells do this more than once per second to produce a normal heart beat of 72 beats per minute.
  • Exactly, the classic chicken with its head cut off situation!

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