DOHA: The past, present and future of organ transplantation was discussed at the latest edition of Weill Cornell Medicine-Qatar’s (WCM-Q) lecture series, the Grand Rounds.
A lecture on ‘The Miracle of Organ Transplantation: Progress and Challenges,’ was delivered by Dr Manikkam Suthanthiran, Stanton Griffis Distinguished Professor of Medicine, and Chief, Division of Nephrology and Hypertension, Weill Cornell Medicine in New York.
Dr Suthanthiran, also Chief, Department of Transplantation Medicine and Extracorporeal Therapy, NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital, highlighted difficulties of organ transplantation and how the procedure defies biology. “Organ transplantation is a medical miracle as we are designed evolutionary to distinguish ourselves from others,” he said. “Our whole defence system immediately recognises the transplanted organ as different from self and tries to damage and destroy it, so to take this organ – even though it is life-saving – and place it in to someone’s body, it is a miracle that it works.”
That it works is partially thanks to Dr Joseph Murray, a pioneer of organ transplantation who conducted the world’s first kidney transplant in 1954. The Nobel laureate was able to bypass the body’s natural immune-response system as the transplant was between identical twins. The recipient of the kidney went on to live for eight years. But most early attempts failed. In 1963 the survival rate for a kidney transplant was one in 10 and now over 90 percent of patients can expect to survive, due to improved immune-suppressive drugs, without which the recipient’s body will attack and destroy the transplanted organ.
Dr Suthanthiran and colleagues, including Dr Karsten Suhre, Professor of Physiology and Biophysics, WCM-Q, are working on the development of noninvasive molecular tests to make transplants safer and treatment highly individualised.
While transplants enjoy a high success rate, doctors must still battle against organ rejection, infections and a shortage of donor organs.
Dr Suthanthiran told physicians, researchers, students and healthcare professionals that xenotransplantation, whereby organs from other species are used, is a promising area of research that could potentially relieve the donor shortage. The Grand Rounds, developed by WCM-Q’s Division of Continuing Professional Development, provides a platform for experts to engage with healthcare professionals to disseminate knowledge of latest developments in medical technology, research and best practice.
The Peninsula
