Teen lives 4 months with no heart, leaves hospital

November 19, 2008 By RASHA MADKOUR , Associated Press Writer

(AP) -- D'Zhana Simmons says she felt like a "fake person" for 118 days when she had no heart beating in her chest. "But I know that I really was here," the 14-year-old said, "and I did live without a heart."



Content from The Associated Press expires 15 days after original publication date. For more information about The Associated Press, please visit www.ap.org .

4.7 /5 (31 votes)  

Filter


Move the slider to adjust rank threshold, so that you can hide some of the comments.


Display comments: newest first

ScottyB
Nov 20, 2008

Rank: 5 / 5 (2)
Awr, hopefully by the time she si 30 they will be able to "grow" a new hear using an artificial frame and stem cells from her own body which will mean she wont have to have imuno-reprecent drugs!
ShadowRam
Nov 20, 2008

Rank: 1 / 5 (1)
Lying there in a hospital bed, knowing you don't have a heart, would be a little weird.

Then again, you'd feel like a Cyborg!
holmstar
Nov 20, 2008

Rank: not rated yet
Awr, hopefully by the time she si 30 they will be able to "grow" a new hear using an artificial frame and stem cells from her own body which will mean she wont have to have imuno-reprecent drugs!


15 yrs is probably plenty of time for this technology to mature. A lab has already created a beating heart using a decelullarized pig heart as a scaffold that was then inoculated with stem cells.

I don't know if the topology of a pig heart is close enough to use in a human, but this is still a big step in the right direction.

Hmmm... I wonder if you could build a collagen scaffold using 3d prototyping technology? Then you would be able to make a perfectly sized heart for transplant.
Rank 4.7 /5 (31 votes)
Tags

Relevant PhysicsForums posts

More news stories

Study finds that anti-diabetic medication can prevent the long-term effects of maternal obesity

In a study to be presented today at the Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine's annual meeting, The Pregnancy Meeting, in Dallas, Texas, researchers will report findings that show that short therapy with the anti-diabetic medication ...

Medicine & Health / Health

created 21 hours ago | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 1

FDA-approved drug rapidly clears amyloid from the brain, reverses Alzheimer's symptoms in mice

Neuroscientists at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine have made a dramatic breakthrough in their efforts to find a cure for Alzheimer's disease. The researchers' findings, published in the journal Science, show t ...

Medicine & Health / Neuroscience

created Feb 09, 2012 | popularity 4.9 / 5 (53) | comments 20 | with audio podcast

Teen school drop-outs three times as likely to be on benefits in later life

Teen school drop-outs are almost three times as likely to be on benefits in later life as their peers who complete their schooling, indicates research published online in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health.

Medicine & Health / Health

created Feb 06, 2012 | popularity not rated yet | comments 11

Green tea found to reduce disability in the elderly

(Medical Xpress) -- A lot of research has been done over the past several years looking into the health benefits of green tea. As a result, scientists have found that regular consumption of the beverage leads ...

Medicine & Health / Health

created Feb 07, 2012 | popularity 4.4 / 5 (14) | comments 10 | with audio podcast report

Amateur football players not always keen on returning to play after ACL injuries

Despite the known success rates of reconstructive Anterior Cruciate Ligament (ACL) surgery, the number of high school and collegiate football players returning to play may not be as high as anticipated, say researchers presenting ...

Medicine & Health / Health

created 21 hours ago | popularity not rated yet | comments 0


Google might launch Drive for cloud storage soon

(PhysOrg.com) -- Google's next big move, according to the Wall Street Journal, is a cloud storage service called Drive. Hardly first to the plate, Google is simply catching up to introducing its cloud reposi ...

Latin America mining boom clashes with conservation

Latin America is experiencing a mining boom as prices rise fuelled by a hike in global demand, but the region is also being hit by a wave of violent protests, strikes and rallies by environmentalists.

Love a click away in Indonesia's Twitter Republic

He was a geeky kid from Yogyakarta, she a glamorous city girl in Jakarta. In a country with one of the world's most vibrant social networking scenes they fell in love on Twitter.

Walney offshore wind farm is world's biggest (for now)

(PhysOrg.com) -- The Walney wind farm on the Irish Sea--characterized by high tides, waves and windy weather--officially opened this week. The farm is treated in the press as a very big deal as the Walney ...

GPS court ruling leaves US phone tracking unclear

A US Supreme Court decision requiring a warrant to place a GPS device on the car of a criminal suspect leaves unresolved the bigger issue of police tracking using mobile phones, legal experts say.

Europeans protest controversial Internet pact

Tens of thousands of people marched in protests in more than a dozen European cities Saturday against a controversial anti-online piracy pact that critics say could curtail Internet freedom.