Dorian, I was reading about this in the paper today, and don't laugh at me, but when I first read the headlines, I thought it meant to take someone whole face and connect it to another person's neck with just stitches. I just about freaked until I started reading it.
Posts: 6628 | Location: Land of Lincoln, USA | Registered: 07-04-02
But what I don't understand is this, cadaver skin is already used for burn victims... Rejection rate is high so doctor's will look for donor skin from a sibling or relative to match before considering cadaver skin. I guess cadaver skin has never been used on the face before but I thought it had.
Posts: 9192 | Location: Atlanta, GA, USA | Registered: 06-03-02
It is a little more complicated than that, but you have the general idea. I wonder how soon someone will complain that it is going "against God's will"? A more serious question I have is about the DNA of the transplanted face. I know that transfused blood changes its DNA structure after a while to match the new host; will a face do the same?
Posts: 16760 | Location: Lincoln Place, Granite City, IL, USA | Registered: 06-03-02
What's the difference between transplanting cadaver skin...and transplanting cadaver organs? You don't hear many complaining about it being against God's will when someone receives an organ transplant. This is interesting, but I don't see why there would be hooplah about this.
Posts: 9192 | Location: Atlanta, GA, USA | Registered: 06-03-02
"What's the difference between transplanting cadaver skin...and transplanting cadaver organs?" - Georgia
Since skin is an organ, there is no difference, at least linguistically. However, as you imply, some do complain about transplants. I don't think that Christian Science believers would accept this. There are about 1600 congregations in the US, and, while the church itself does not publish membership numbers, it has been estimated that from 100,000 to 400,000 people in the US follow this faith.
Posts: 16760 | Location: Lincoln Place, Granite City, IL, USA | Registered: 06-03-02
"I know that transfused blood changes its DNA structure after a while to match the new host; will a face do the same?"
Blood (red blood cells, anyway) doesn't have DNA-- red cells have no nuclei. DNA doesn't change in a transplant situation: kidney, blood, face. It's that the body can be made to "accept" the foreign tissues by suppressing normal immune reaction. The rejection issues would not be essentially different for a face than they would be for any other organ. Skin used for burn victims is largely expected to be temporary, while the victim heals and eventually regenerates his/her own skin. Pig skin is used as well, in the same context. The concept of a face transplant is, I'd say, more problematic with respect to maintaining circulation to such a large flat area; the immune issues are no different from those dealt with in any xenotransplant. As was mentioned in the article, the question is whether it's appropriate to assume the risks and side effects that accompany immune suppression, when it's for a "cosmetic" treatment rather than a life-saving one. In the case of the face, however, one could certainly argue that it's more than just cosmetic: it's quality of life.
Posts: 1505 | Location: Puget Sound, USA | Registered: 06-03-02
SId, how is blood used to identify a person? I speak of crime scenes in which the presence of one's blood is proof that the person was at the scene. Surely the authorities can't just be going on type of blood.
Posts: 16760 | Location: Lincoln Place, Granite City, IL, USA | Registered: 06-03-02
Oh, I was being sort of pedantic: Red blood cells, having no nuclei, have no DNA. But white blood cells do and do. The real point was that it's not correct that blood changes its DNA to match the new host; if there's a bonemarrow transplant, for example, the blood produced by those stem cells continue to have the DNA of the donor, not the host; but the goal is to have the host accept those non-native cells. In fact, the more dangerous situation is a "graft vs. host" reaction, wherein the blood resulting from the transplanted stem cells produce antibodies to the host tissues. That won't happen in, say, a kidney transplant; but since a bonemarrow/stem cell transplant produces a line of new cells, it can in that situation. Not a pretty sight.
Posts: 1505 | Location: Puget Sound, USA | Registered: 06-03-02
Sid1114: Since I imagine that you do not do every type of surgery, how do you get such info? Word of mouth? Seminars? Teaching? Journals? You seem to be quite up on the latest.
