Australian Girl Changed Blood Type After Liver Transplant
Written by WTJ on January 26, 2008 – 10:08 am -Demi-Lee Brennan was aged nine and seriously ill with liver failure when she received the transplant, doctors at a top Sydney children’s hospital told AFP.
Nine months later they discovered she had changed blood types and that her immune system had switched over to that of the donor after stem cells from the new liver migrated to her bone marrow.
She is now a healthy 15-year-old, Michael Stormon, a hepatologist treating her, told AFP. He said he had given several presentations on the case around the world and had heard of none like it.
Could it be another soul living inside her blood? LOL!
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Tags: blood type, Demi-Lee Brennan, immune system, Liver Transplant, Michael Stormon, stem cells |
February 6th, 2008 at 6:21 am
This is extremely interesting story! I’m the patient who have the liver transplant for two years now. However, I did get the liver from donor who had the same blood group. That’s what doctors told us, after all. I also got my own blood back during the surgery, there was no transfusion of foreign blood.
Nevertheless, I’m taking much of the drugs (immunosuppressant) ever since the surgery. Twice a day, just as usual as any other patient with the liver transplant.
This story about the girl she doesn’t take drugs for five years now and is well enough opens many questions.
One of it is - why someone who has the liver transplant of the same blood type needs so much drugs to live when the alien organ was once accepted by the patient and does function well?!
February 6th, 2008 at 9:49 am
Jadranko:
the taking of drugs is to suppress the immune reaction of the acceptor to prevent rejection against the alien organ. Some organ might work fine for some people initially, but there is also possibility that it won’t last long. There are a lot of similar cases like that. Blood type is not the only thing that will triggered the immune response of a patient.
February 6th, 2008 at 5:51 pm
Thank you very much for this answer. Yes, I’m well aware of that all but this case from Australia is more than intriguing. What bothers me the most is the possibilities of damaging the body and the new liver as well (cancer or some other trouble) with so much strong drugs, what immunosuppressant are. The case of Demi-Lee Brennan shows that life with new liver (one of the first discovered) without a single pill is yet possible! And that’s excellent.
February 6th, 2008 at 6:30 pm
Those anti-rejection drugs are indeed dangerous, although it prevent the body rejecting the newly transplanted organ, but it also makes the patient can’t reject the germs.