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vat-grown, custom organs?!

Posted: Mon Jan 14, 2008 7:11 pm
by Mikey

Posted: Mon Jan 14, 2008 7:39 pm
by RK_Striker_JK_5
Ooh, may that make the leap to humans... and not be hampered by kneejerk reactionary BS.

Posted: Mon Jan 14, 2008 8:36 pm
by Sionnach Glic
Very interesting. Good find, Mikey.

Posted: Mon Jan 14, 2008 10:14 pm
by Tsukiyumi
Yeah, that kicks ass. New knees and eyes for me! And put a new pancreas for Mikey on my tab.

Posted: Mon Jan 14, 2008 11:57 pm
by Mikey
Thanks! I'll try to keep this one a little nicer. :P

Seriously, if anyone doesn't realize, the major problem with transplants lies in the fact that they were originally someone else's organs. Immunosuppresants help with rejection issues, but are also... well, immunosupressants - you get sick more easily, and then your new, precarious organs are affected...

The research I have done lies mainly in the way of diabetic treatment, for obvious and selfish reasons. Pancreatic (or pancreatic cell) transplants have been done - however, they rarely last more than a few years. Additionally, I would never consider having it done at the current state of the art; as it is, I take a daily regimen of drugs (hormones, actually) because of my bad pancreas - plus keep to a particular diet, etc. With such a transplant, I would undergo MAJOR surgery, PLUS have to continue a daily regimen of powerful drugs with both side effects as well as the primary effect of being extraordinarily vulnerable to disease - even more so than a plain old, garden variety type 1 diabetic.

Think of never having to weigh the risks vs. the rewards for a patient who could benefit from a new heart, lung, kidney, bone marrow, or whatever.

Posted: Tue Jan 15, 2008 5:22 pm
by Sionnach Glic
Indeed, this would be a great boon to medical problems everywhere.

Posted: Thu Jan 17, 2008 7:41 pm
by Mikey
Now look at this - I know this is a sci-fi forum, but this is a real article:

http://www6.comcast.net/news/articles/s ... d.Embryos/

PS - nice to see you guys across the pond are contributing something since Watson and Krick... J.K. :wink: