1. Lung Transplants<br />32004001292225Organ transplant is a surgery which we remove an organ from a donor and donate to the recipient. The first lung transplant on human happened 1963, performed by Hardy. The donation of the lung was from the dead person who died from cardiac disease. The recipient died after 18 days from transplant (Lung Transplantation: EMedicine Transplantation, 2010). The medication and treatment has improved over the past 50 years, which allowed higher survivability after the surgery. In this essay it will talk about what is lung transplant, the benefit and the limitation of lung transplant, ethical issues, economical issues, and social issues about lung transplant.<br />Diagram 1Heart-lung bypass machine is used to keep the blood oxygenated and circulating during the surgery.(Lung Transplant - Series: MedlinePlus Medical Encyclopedia, 2010)Lungs are one of the fatal organs we need in our body. Lungs are in charge of controlling the amount of oxygen and carbon dioxide in our blood. When we inhale, we take in oxygen and supply them to the blood and when we exhale we breathe out the carbon dioxide in the blood. (Lungs: Pulmonary and Respiratory, 2010)<br />Lung transplant is the surgery that replaces one or both diseased lungs with healthy lungs from the donor. The recipient’s tissue should be matching as close as possible with the donor’s tissue to reduce the possibility of donor cell rejection (Lung Transplant: MedlinePlus Medical Encyclopedia, 2010). In single lung transplant, the cut is made on the side of the chest of the diseased lung. The operation takes up to 4 to 8 hours. In double lung transplant, the cut is made below the chest. The surgery takes up to 6 to 12 hours. During the double lung transplant, a special machine is used to provide oxygen and move blood through the body (See diagram 1) (Lung Transplant: MedlinePlus Medical Encyclopedia, 2010). <br />Diagram 2Diagram of lungs (Health Library, 2010)101600-819785There are some benefits to lung transplants. First, there is possibility to live a longer life after getting severe diseases. Lung diseases such as cystic fibrosis (causing thick mucus to build up in lungs, see diagram 2) can lead to early death. However, if we remove the diseased lungs and transplant healthy lungs, there is possibility to live longer than expected (Lung Transplant: MedlinePlus Medical Encyclopedia, 2010). <br />Another benefit of lung transplant is people can become more energetic, and more active. For people who were born with small sized lung can also take lung transplant to increase the size of their lung. If they increase the size of their lung, more oxygen are inhaled which means more oxygen to oxygenate the blood. This can lead people to be more energetic and more active (TYPE HTML PUBLIC, 2010). <br />There are some limitations with lung transplants. Firstly there are risks of death during the surgery. If the patient has critical illness, disease that may affect the new lung, continuously involves in cigarette smoking and alcohol and drug addiction, possibility of cancer within two years, the person may die during the transplant or a short period of time after the surgery (Lung Transplant: MedlinePlus Medical Encyclopedia, 2010). <br />Second disadvantage is that there are possibilities of donor cell rejection. To suppress the immune system of the recipient from attacking the donor’s tissue the person has to continuously consume immunosuppressant drugs (Pulmonary Hypertension Association, 2010). If not the immune system will attack the new lungs and lead to necessity of removing the new lungs. <br />Another limitation is the survivability after the surgery. The survivability after the lung transplant surgery turns out to be very low compared to other transplants. According to statistic based on the data from 2006, about 85% of people who had lung transplant lived at least one year, 50% survived for 5 years and only 25% of the people who had lung transplant was able to survive for 10 years (Lung Transplantation-Wikipedia, 2010). <br />There are ethical issues with lung transplant. Lung transplant is said to be a surgery that prolongs one’s life and provide a better quality of life for desperately sick people. Many people believe it is ethical to do surgeries, which prolongs one’s life especially if it is fatal for one’s life (Chronic Respiratory Disease, 2010). <br />There are some economical issues with lung transplant surgeries. The lung transplant can be a great financial burden. The United Network for Organ Sharing has reported that for double lung transplants it can cost about $543,900. This includes organ procurement fee, hospital fee, physician fee, immunosuppressant drugs and more (Pulmonary Hypertension Association, 2010). Only the people who are high status in economy may be able to spend the money for the transplant surgery.<br />There are some social issues with lung transplant. Many people decide to take lung transplant because of desire for better conditions. However, there can be opposite effect with lung transplant. A soldier in UK called Matthew Millington, 31, died at his home in 2008 less than a year after his surgery of lung transplant. Less than a year, a tumor was found in the new lungs. Despite radiotherapy to cure the tumor, he died on February 8, 2008. It turned out to be he has received a smoker’s lungs that smoked up to 50 cigarettes a day (see picture 1). The hospital said that “Using lungs from donors 2941320-101600Picture 1X-ray picture of cigarette smoker’s lung (CNN.com, 2010)who have smoked in the past is not unusual” This was because if the hospital only persists to donate healthy lungs, a lot of people would die waiting for the lung transplant. The hospital said, “during the same period 84 people died on the waiting list”. (CNN.com, 2010) There may be opposite affect with lung transplant. If there are high demand and low supply people need to wait for another donor to approach.<br />Lung transplant is one of the transplants that have high demands and low supplies. The survivability rate after the surgery is low compared to other organ transplant. There are possibilities of side affects with immunosuppressant. The cost of the transplant is expensive because of the success rate of the transplant. There are possibility of longer life with new lungs, however, it doesn't’ mean that it can’t be the opposite. The lung transplant is still in the early stage and because of that the survivability rate is low, more investigation is still needed for safe lung transplants.<br /> <br />Works Cited <br />quot;
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