Girl's heart restarted after donor organ removed

[johnnie]

"LONDON (Reuters) - A British girl is thought to have become the first heart transplant patient in the UK and possibly the world to have had her donor organ removed and her own heart re-started, a London hospital said on Thursday.

Hannah Clark from south Wales had a heterotopic transplant operation -- known as a "piggyback" because the donor heart is placed next to the original organ -- 10 years ago."

However, complications arose after her body recently started reacting badly to the drugs she had to take to stop her body rejecting the new heart and surgeons took the decision to remove the donor organ.

"We discovered that actually her old heart was now working quite well," said a spokesman from London's Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children."

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20060413/ts_nm/britain_heart_dc_1


This is wild. She had her old heart in her and it kicked back in and they hooked it back up..lol.

[LaraMN]

1. Holy crap!

Maybe the old heart got a chance to heal and develop without the strain of having to function, for all those years. Wow. Cool.

[Rabrrrrrr]

2. How Klingon-like!

We need more organ redundancy.

:-)

[derby378]

3. Damn. She's a lucky girl.

Next question: will her own body try to reject her own heart? Will she have to take anti-rejection drugs for her own organs?

[billyskank]

4. I was wondering about that when I heard it on the radio

I was thinking, how did they keep it in good condition for eight years? And, given that she had the original transplant when she was two years old, how come it isn't too small?

I only just realised that they obviously didn't remove the original heart during the first transplant. :dunce: