As 2024 draws to a close, I’d like to highlight three recent healthcare stories that made me smile.
The first patient is from The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center in Columbus, Ohio. Their transplant surgery team recently completed the following record-breaking combinations: 20 transplant operations As part of a “chain” that matches compatible donors with suitable recipients.
For example, suppose Mrs. Adams needs a kidney and her husband, Mr. Adams, is willing to donate one of his kidneys to her, but he is not a suitable tissue “fit.” Similarly, Mrs. Baker needed a kidney, and Mr. Baker was willing to donate one, but it still wasn’t a good fit for her. A good matching algorithm would be able to find the right combination so that Mr. Baker could safely donate his kidney to Mrs. Adams (and from Mr. Adams to Mrs. Baker), and everyone would benefit. Neither spouse can meet the needs of their spouse alone, but by working together, everyone can benefit.
In a recent example from Ohio State University, surgeons were able to find a “chain” of 10 recipients (and 10 donors) so that each recipient received a compatible kidney from the appropriate donor. I did. As expected, everything had to work correctly for the chain to succeed. The transplant team performed 20 surgeries in two days: 10 to remove the kidney from the donor and another 10 to transplant the kidney into the recipient. The medical team said:Simple health changes such as a cold or fever can interrupt the exchange”
Stanford Professor Alvin Ross won the Nobel Prize in 2012 for his work Developing matchmaking methods Such as those used by organ transplant teams. If you’d like to watch a fascinating video featuring husband-and-wife team Dr. Dolly Segev and Somer Gentry about the math and biology of transplant matchmaking, we highly recommend this short 21-minute documentary .proper matching”
Kidney transplantation in the Department of Urology, Nice, France. Kidneys are harvested from living related donors. … [+]
The second story comes from Rhodes Hospital in Denver, Colorado. The hospital uses specially trained therapy dogs to help medical staff deal with stress and burnout. For example, obstetrician-gynecologist Dr. Christina Fraser was able to spend a few minutes petting one of her therapy dogs right before tending to an emergency pregnancy delivery. Dogs help doctors, nurses, and other health care workers enjoy a much-needed “moment of calm” before moving on to the next task.
Well, just listening to him talk made me feel calm.
Full text from NPR morning paper teeth available here.
The last good story of 2024 is that we eradicated the “murder hornet” in the United States. Not only are these giant hornets extremely deadly to humans, they can also cause significant damage to bee hives. According to Sven SpichigerPest Program Manager, Washington State Department of Agriculture, “As an entomologist, I have to say, I’ve been doing this job for over 25 years, and it’s very rare that humans actually acquire pests.” . ”
2025 will definitely bring new challenges (and opportunities). But for now, we can look back to 2024 and enjoy our health successes. Happy New Year everyone!
