New Kidney Transplant Procedure
Jennifer Searl
A kidney transplant is a very serious operation that is not taken lightly by doctors or patients. Getting through the three hour surgery with no complications is nothing short of amazing, but thats nothing compared to what difficulties lie ahead in the patients post surgery life.
Immunosuppressant drugs must be taken by the patient for the rest of their lifes to prevent kidney rejection, however they also cause some serious problems. They can lead to infections, hair loss, bone problems, as well as forms of lymphoma. A new procedure hopes to prevent these complications.
Doctor David H. Sachs is an immunologist at Massachusetts General Hospital located in Boston, and his research team has developed a new method to eliminate the immunosuppressant drugs. His idea was to induce chemotherapy at the same time as the transplant, to "reprogram" the patient's immune system into thinking the donor kidney is actually part of the patients body.
As of now, this operation is still in the testing phase, but results have been positive. Jennifer Searl was one of the test patients, and she had her first kidney transplant when she was 12 years old. She told an interviewer "I just never knew what it was like to really be healthy." The immunosuppresant drugs she was taking caused her to have many post-operation complications. I had a very big problem with the disfiguring growth on my legs and feet," she says, "so bad that by the time I got to college, I really couldn't walk."
When she needed a second transplant, she decided to give Dr. Sachs experimental method a try, in an attempt to regain a healthy life. The operation was a success, and essentially gave her a new life. She no longer has to deal with the painful, debilitating side effects of a kidney transplant, and hopes other patients soon get to experience what she is.
