Not meaning to diminish the accomplishment, but does it mean that the patient is now forever in debt to the hospital?
U.S. surgeons transplant pig heart into human patient
191–200 of 731 posts
Re: U.S. surgeons transplant pig heart into human patient
#192You might be asking, why a pig? I don't know, but forever ago I wrote software for a cardiovascular imaging lab and pigs were their primary test subjects. I was like, "why pigs?" and the PI was like, "Imaging-wise, pig hearts aren't too different from humans. Plus, we can give them a heart attack in the scanner and not go to jail. Some labs use dogs. I just can't do that."
What ... happens to the pigs who get accidental heart attacks? Are they ...? Do they ...?
They're not accidental.
They stick a metal rod, that's been frozen in liquid nitrogen, into the piggy's heart.
This kills the heart cells.
Then they stuff the piggy into an MRI machine and take a picture of its heart -- because an alive piggy's heart beats and makes the picture blurry.
Then the scientists get a pretty picture on their computers and high-five one another.
Success, they all think: "mission accomplished. Funding secured."
Re: U.S. surgeons transplant pig heart into human patient
#193Earlier quoted context omitted.
May I ask how much did it cost and did insurance cover it?
A surgical aortic valve replacement (SAVR) for example will cost ~50K I believe? It will be covered by insurance if it is necessary. There are also less invasive forms of valve replacement (transcatheter / percutaneous) which involve collapsing a synthetic valve around a balloon at the end of a catheter, inserting the assembly into a femoral artery, guiding the valve into the heart and into the open damaged valve, an…
Is anyone having an aortic valve replacement that isn’t necessary?!
Re: U.S. surgeons transplant pig heart into human patient
#194You might be asking, why a pig? I don't know, but forever ago I wrote software for a cardiovascular imaging lab and pigs were their primary test subjects. I was like, "why pigs?" and the PI was like, "Imaging-wise, pig hearts aren't too different from humans. Plus, we can give them a heart attack in the scanner and not go to jail. Some labs use dogs. I just can't do that."
I was only recently acquainted with the idea that there are many people on the internet who become very angry that some people eat dog meat, but do not with say cow meat or pig meat. — I find this rather strange and do not understand this.
Re: U.S. surgeons transplant pig heart into human patient
#195Earlier quoted context omitted.
Pigs are really common in biomedical testing. They are physically a similar size and weight to humans. They also reach maturity in about 6 months. Much cheaper to raise than primates, and more likely to get approval for testing. My friends in biomed grad school named one of theirs cyber pig because it has about 30 different experiments ran on it before it was killed, and afterwards it was portioned out for further te…
Bit of a tangent: I read the article to my wife and she mentioned that there is an episode of Grey's Anatomy where they wanted to perform a transplant of a pig's bowels but the Jewish (or Muslim?) lady refused. Interesting how one might choose to their faith over their life.
> Interesting how one might choose to their faith over their life.
I guess according to a person of faith this becomes a choice between "afterlife" and "life".
Re: U.S. surgeons transplant pig heart into human patient
#196Earlier quoted context omitted.
Pigs are really common in biomedical testing. They are physically a similar size and weight to humans. They also reach maturity in about 6 months. Much cheaper to raise than primates, and more likely to get approval for testing. My friends in biomed grad school named one of theirs cyber pig because it has about 30 different experiments ran on it before it was killed, and afterwards it was portioned out for further te…
Bit of a tangent: I read the article to my wife and she mentioned that there is an episode of Grey's Anatomy where they wanted to perform a transplant of a pig's bowels but the Jewish (or Muslim?) lady refused. Interesting how one might choose to their faith over their life.
On the axiom that betraying such faith leads to æternal damnation in the afterlife, it seems a strategic choice to me.
It would perhaps only be strange that a man might hold such an axion, not that he acts in accordance with it.
Re: U.S. surgeons transplant pig heart into human patient
#197A sad sign of what things have come to when a man's last hope at survival is a pig heart.
Maybe I'm missing something, but what's so sad about this situation versus the past? In the past, he would have just died, but "what things have come to" is that medical technology has advanced to the point where he has a shot of making it another few years.
I think perhaps the wording might have confused you (and now reading again I can see why.) I was merely expressing sadness at the situation, that the man found himself left with no other possibilities. Particularly the quote: "It was either die or do this transplant. I want to live. I know it’s a shot in the dark, but it’s my last choice." By "things have come to" I didn't mean in society, I meant in his life.
Re: U.S. surgeons transplant pig heart into human patient
#198Re: U.S. surgeons transplant pig heart into human patient
#199You might be asking, why a pig? I don't know, but forever ago I wrote software for a cardiovascular imaging lab and pigs were their primary test subjects. I was like, "why pigs?" and the PI was like, "Imaging-wise, pig hearts aren't too different from humans. Plus, we can give them a heart attack in the scanner and not go to jail. Some labs use dogs. I just can't do that."
I was only recently acquainted with the idea that there are many people on the internet who become very angry that some people eat dog meat, but do not with say cow meat or pig meat. — I find this rather strange and do not understand this.
it’s just a lifetime of conditioning really
Re: U.S. surgeons transplant pig heart into human patient
#200Wow, that's intense! Does anyone know if pig's blood typing matches ours and if not how do they overcome that? Would be curious to see what kind of lifetime they get from this transplant. Amazing.