Globe Health Tours News

May 8: Researchers are trying to find a useful way to cure liver disease by effectively using embryonic stem cells. This will help to minimise the need for transplantation. This innovative research is one of two projects at Edinburgh University and it is funded with £3.6m from the Medical Research Council (MRC) and Scottish Enterprise. The second project also makes use of the embryonic stem cells to repair damaged bone. Diseases related to liver are the fifth most common cause of death in the UK.

“Once the liver cells from embryonic cells are successfully developed it will revolutionise the scope of treatment and pave the way for several new therapies and drugs for both liver and other organs. Eventually it will lead to a stem cell based regeneration of liver cells,” said Professor John Iredale of the MRC Centre for Regenerative Medicine at the University of Edinburgh.

He further added that the research is capable of playing a crucial role in reducing the number of organ transplant and will minimise the level of traumatic treatment of the patients for whom transplantation is the only option. Now the researchers are trying to find how liver cells could be developed from embryonic stem cells and the ways in which it can be used effectively for the treatment of acute and chronic liver disease.

The second research that receives £1.7m funding will help in isolation of embryonic stem into cells that are capable of developing into bone and cartilage.

While commenting on this Dr Brendon Noble of the Medical Research Council Centre for Regenerative Medicine said: “Cartilage damage due to injuries or diseases like osteoarthritis is a major health problem in the UK. Prevention of cartilage from breaking down or by repairing it will potentially reduce hip replacement surgeries. We are trying to find a fruitful way to heal the bones using stem cells that could enhance the quality of life of the patients.”

We could expect the findings of these researches will bring great relief for the patients who are suffering from bone related diseases.

Mar 18: A new study conducted by Arthritis Research and Therapy has revealed that the patients suffering from Rheumatoid arthritis could minimise the risk of heart attack and stroke by opting for vegetarian diet. Heart attack and strokes are considered as the major cause of death among arthritis patients as the inflammation created by the disease will affect the arteries. It is estimated that around 350,000 people are affected by Rheumatoid Arthritis in the UK.

The experts at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm said that by excluding meat products and gluten from the diet the risk of heart attack will reduce a great deal. The speciality of vegetarian diet is that it has less cholesterol level.

The research included 38 volunteers for the study and they were tested after given vegetarian diet over a period of time. When they were tested after that and it was found that their cholesterol level has decreased, mainly the low-density lipoprotein, which is considered as bad cholesterol. While in those people who took non-vegetarian diet the level of cholesterol has not undergone any significant change.

The decline in cholesterol level among those who took vegetarian diet will help them to prevent arteries blockage and other cardiovascular disease. Their Body Mass Index (BMI) was also reduced after consuming vegetarian diet for the period of 12 months.

While commenting on this a spokeswoman of the Arthritis Research Campaign said: “The study result is interesting as we too know that eating oily fish will help to reduce inflammation and the consumption of high quantity of meat and low quantity of vegetables and fruits will also increase the problem of Rheumatoid arthritis.”

She also pointed out that vegetarian diet will help in reducing cholesterol but it will fail to fulfil all our nutrition needs.

Mar 10: In the recent years many people die of lung cancer than any other cancers including breast, colon and prostate all combined together. The main reason attributed to lung cancer is the presence of excess amount of protein named Bc12 in the cells of the patients who are affected by lung cancer. Earlier, studies have also found that these proteins are triggered by nicotine it gives tumour cells the ability to live longer and enables it to resist chemotherapy.

While commenting on this Xingming Deng of the Univeristy of Florida said: “In most cases the damages in DNA can be sorted out. In contrary the research shows that the protein Bc12 has the inherent ability to block the DNA repair mechanism and there by leads to the formation of tumour and genetic instability.”

He further added that: “Lung cancer remains as the number one killer among all other type of cancer. It is considered as more dangerous and the research tries to shed light on the effective ways to identify and treat lung cancer as the diagnosis process has not been codified yet.”

The cell that promotes genetic mutation and that lost the capability to repair itself is enough for the tumour to develop. The research finding also adds that the protein affects body’s internal ability to repair the affected cells and resist the cancer causing cells. The study also emphasis on to the fact that the protein will promote and protect the cancer causing cells and it also blocks its ability to resist the disease when radiation or nicotine damages the DNA.

Feb 29: According to the new statistics released by Global Industry Analysts, Inc. the organ transplant market is expected to reach 115,000 procedures by the year 2012. Most accepted form of organ transplants are heart, kidney, pancreas, liver and lungs. The market is encouraged by the increasing number of adult population and the surge in the number of organ failure due to serious ailments.

The success rate of the organ transplants encouraged by the modern technology also promotes the market of organ transplant. Awareness programmes that are aimed to remove misconception and fear linked with organ donations. Voluntary participation of organ donors who are willing for after-life organ donation has also encouraged the market and it is considered as a social responsibility.

Kidney transplant heads the list of organ transplants and it is expected to reach 78.8 thousand transplants by the year 2012. Liver transplants are expected to reach 1,290 by 2010 in Latin America. Tissue transplantation market that include cornea, skin grafts and heart valves are expected to fetch $5.25 billion by 2012.

The organs like liver and kidney are largely donated by living donors and it has seen a steep rise. The number of stranger donor is higher than those of family donors. Even though the number of organ donation is increasing, demand for organs is far beyond that and it fails to cater the needs of all the patients. One-third of the patients are getting the organs what they are looking for. Finding suitable donor, preventing infections or block in blood vessels are the major hurdles for organ transplantation.

The report is released by Global Industry Analysts, Inc. and it is titled as “Organ and Tissue Transplantation: A Global Strategic Business Report”. The study also includes market data and statistics of transplant procedures in US, Canada, Europe, Japan, Asia, Latin America to name a few.

Now-a-days organ transplant is gaining prominence as it offers new lease of life to several people who are struggling for life with organ related disorders. There are certain guidelines to be followed to make the efforts of organ donation fruitful. The list of basic guidelines is as given below.

Procedures to become an organ donor

* Inform your family and doctor about your wishes.
* Get a donor card and add the details on the back of your driving license.
* Take 5 copies and give one each to your doctor, lawyer, family, keep one safe in your house and one in your wallet.
* Give power of attorney to someone, who might be your doctor, friend, or family members. They will be allowed to take medical decisions when you become incapable.
* Make a living will and also an advance care directive. The legal documents will register your wishes if you cannot able to communicate.

Guidelines

* Special care with all the precautionary measures will be taken to ensure safety of the donor.
* Organ donated will serve the need of those people who are severely affected by organ related disorder and priority will be given as according to the waiting list. No consideration will be shown on the basis of money value of the patients.

Feb 14: Several countries of the world are focussing on creating awareness among people regarding the importance of donating organs. As the organ transplant will give a new lease of life to many. Heart, kidney, liver, lungs, pancreas and intestines are the main organs that are widely donated. Other body tissues like cornea, heart valves and skin can also be donated.

A heart that stops beating can be removed, preserved in a cold solution and can be transplanted within four hours. Due to the shortage of donors 2000 odd heart transplants take place each year. According to a statistics at present 100,000 Americans waiting for donors who would donate hearts, pancreases, kidneys, livers, intestines, bone marrow, eyes, skin and lungs. Due to lack of donors 16 people die every day. Organs taken from a deceased donor will improve the health and save the life of at least 50 people.

Organ donation is considered as sacred one as according to major religious beliefs, those include Catholics, Protestants and most braches of Judaism. According to them if the child is below 18 years of age parents can give consent to be a donor. There are several misconception linked with organ transplant that keeps many people away from donating their organs.

According to new statistics major portion of the Americans show willingness to donate their organs but they have not registered their wishes. After the death of a person the responsibility of donating his organs are left with the family members and they override the wishes of the deceased. While many of the persons show desire to donate their organs after death rather than otherwise.

Recently in an editorial published in the Washington Post stressed the need for more effective strategy to create awareness to encourage organ donation. Editorial also suggested that a round the clock retrieval teams in all the hospitals and equipping doctors to fulfil this noble purpose will be an effective way to promote organ transplant.

Scotland, Jan 16: As a relief to thousands of people who are suffering from organ disorder, a proposal is being put forward by the Scottish government as an attempt to encourage the number of organ donors.

The Scottish government aims to increase the number of organ donors by over 50% in the next five years. The proposal includes well linked transplant network all across the UK. More donation coordinators will be appointed and compensation will be paid to health boards for costly operations. This doesn’t include the supposed permission of “opt-out” option. This summer a report will be issued in this regard.

While commenting on this Nicola Sturgeon the health secretary said: “I’m concerned about the concept of an opting-out. It is to be noted that Scotland has one of the worst donation rates in Europe. This has to be changed and the proposal aims at it.”

Meanwhile the Prime Minister Gordon Brown also expressed his support to the opt-out idea.

We can hope all these measures will pave the way for encouraging the rate of organ donors in Scotland. GHT

Jan 15: In what could be termed as a landmark research the scientists at the University of Minnesota has come up with an innovative idea of bioarticficial heart that is expected to end the problem of organ shortage. The outcome of the revolutionary research has been published in the medical journal named Nature Medicine published by the University of Minnesota.

Doctors have stripped down and refurbished a dead heart in an attempt to make it beat again. It is considered as an unprecedented achievement that is hyped to end the grave issue of organ shortage. It is expected to overcome the shortage of replacement hearts and other organs and could eliminate the need for anti-rejection drugs as according to the American team of researchers. The research will also give relief to over 22 million people worldwide who are suffering from heart failure.

As part of the research the team of experts took a whole heart and removed cells from it. They retained the resulting structure, chambers, valves and blood vessels. New cells were substituted in the place of old cells.

While commenting on this Dr Harald Ott a co-investigator of this research work said: “We just took nature’s building blocks to build a new organ. When we saw the first contractions we were speechless.” He said.

“The work has a huge implication as the core idea of this is to develop transplantable blood vessels or whole organs that are made from your own cells. The method could be used effectively to grow liver, kidney, lung and pancreas, indeed virtually any organ with a blood supply. It will take years to use this method in the hospitals. We are ready to make a human heart though the cost makes it prohibitive at present,” said Doris Taylor, the principle investigator and director of the centre for Cardiovascular Repair, Minnesota.

In future we can expect this method turn out as the panacea for all organ related disorders.

When 17-year-old Nataline Sarkisyan died after being refused funding for a liver transplant by her insurance company, the grounds for refusal was that the treatment is “experimental” and not presumably of proven clinical value. The company finally back down, but not until it was too late. Expect litigation any time soon.

US Insurance companies routinely do not cover experimental treatments for obvious reasons. Desperate patients will cling to any straw regardless of efficacy. Notwithstanding that,  is liver transplantation  really experimental?

It sounds like the company had confused risky with experimental. There is no doubt that medicine and surgery has a great deal more to learn about liver transplantation and especially the ideal management techniques. That is not to say this is experimental. Changing the body’s largest organ is inherently risky but not an experiment!

Globe Health Tours offers liver transplant surgery in India and Singapore