Incredicle and exciting medical first.

[Shannow]

No-one knows how it happened.

http://www.news.com.au/story/0,23599,23098129-401,00.html?from=mostpop

Quote:
A YOUNG transplant patient has defied medical science by spontaneously switching blood types and taking on her donor's immune system

NSW teenager Demi Brennan is believed to be the first person in the world to completely accept a donated organ to the extent where her immune system entirely changed.

Demi, now 15, suffered liver failure and had a liver transplant at the age of nine in 2001.

Several months on from the transplant, her doctors at Westmead Children's Hospital say theywere shocked to discover her blood type had changed to match the blood type of her deceased male donor.

On closer inspection, specialists found that stem cells from the donor liver had penetrated her bone marrow, effectively resulting in a naturally occurring bone marrow transplant.

Her doctor, Michael Stormon, said she was able to come off the anti-rejection drugs which most transplant patients needed to take for the rest of their lives.


One of the most exciting medical stories that I've heard in ages.

 

[deven]

Being in the Health Care and Medical Field, this is indeed a very exciting situation and one that will be probed further to see if it can be duplicated somehow on other patients.

 

[Cutehumor]

I bet it has to do with her age

 

[Shannow]

possibly. I remember reading about human chimeras with nearly as much excitement at what they can teach us.

 

[AcuraTech]

Just heard something like this on BBC News Hour.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/7205094.stm

Not all peaches and cream though. There are risks associated. But I agree that this warrants further study and could result in a big breakthrough for organ transplant patients.

 

[oilyriser]

Fascinating (in voice of mr spok).

If he donor's stem cells are more aggressive than her own, I wonder if it will stop with just the bone marrow.

 

[Gary Allan]

Hmmm ..if she starts adopting some odd behaviors ..what did that donor die from??

 

[mechtech2]

When young, odd things can happen.
There has been regeneration of finger digits, for instance.
I'm happy for her.

 

[oilyriser]

I wonder if Michael Jackson accidentally got some stem cells from a white woman.

But this gives hope for some friends with diabetes. Maybe one day they can put away the insulin.

 

[ekpolk]

I won't be impressed until I hear of something like an engine spontaneously changing from needing 5w30 to requiring 5w-20. Oh wait. . .

 

[Steve S]

Originally Posted By: oilyriser
I wonder if Michael Jackson accidentally got some stem cells from a white woman
Ever wonder why Janet and Michael are not seen at the same time?

 

[Aldaris]

Originally Posted By: ekpolk
I won't be impressed until I hear of something like an engine spontaneously changing from needing 5w30 to requiring 5w-20. Oh wait. . .
hahahaahaha!!!!

 

[NJC]

Originally Posted By: oilyriser
I wonder if Michael Jackson accidentally got some stem cells from a white woman.

 

[Oldmoparguy1]

Amazing how quickly a thread goes down the dumper here..

 

[alreadygone]

Turning wonder and awe into blunder and raw.

Bob

 

[Turk]

LOL !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Mystic]

I heard about that also. They say that she is one in six billion. It is never known to have happened to anybody else.

 

[Tempest]

This is very good news indeed. There should be a whole new avenue of research openned up with this event. Thanks for posting.

 

[Shannow]

Originally Posted By: Mystic
I heard about that also. They say that she is one in six billion. It is never known to have happened to anybody else.


It depends how related this is to human chimerism.

There are people walking this Earth (and quite a few of them) that have two sets of DNA, some internal organs with a different DNA to the main part of their body. Without any form of rejection.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jht.../13/ixhome.html

 

[Tempest]

Good stuff there Shannow. I see I'm behind the times in this area. I must be reading too much about oil...