The research is still in the early stages, but Jonathon Bromberg, MD, the lead researcher, is convinced he has figured out a way to combat the rejection of certain vital organs. He is a transplant surgeon by trade, so he has performed hundreds of transplants, and in that time the rejection rate across the board has not budged. Dr. Bromberg is also a professor of immunology and microbiology, so when he started looking into rectifying this huge issue, he looked close to home. After years of studying the effect of the microbiome on organ transplants, Dr. Bromberg and the coauthor of the study, Emmanuel Mongodin, have realized that certain organisms within the biome can greatly improve the validity of a transplanted heart.
Bromberg and Mongodin did not just know the answer to their problem, it took a lot of trial and error, as well as specific targeted research. Using mice to research the potential implications, the pair found various microbes that indeed do help with the treatment of certain rejection related symptoms: namely, inflammation.
The link between the gut biome and the cardiovascular system is most definitely not a direct one, and the process to link these two seemingly unrelated systems involved a great deal of research and the power of inductive reasoning. The procedure of faecal transplants has a variety of merits and uses for the treatment of many other ailments, but this is a new and revolutionary way to think about the potential of this rather simple procedure. Through Bromberg’s research, it may be possible to end the life-long dependence on immunosuppressants for these transplant patients.
Resources:
I had never heard of fecal transplants for post-op patients, let alone transplant patients! Normally fecal transplants take place after a patient's gut biome is wiped out, usually from C diff. This procedure is especially interesting because of how easily transplanted organs are rejected and I love Dr. Bromberg's thought process!
ReplyDeleteThe amount of creativity this must take is amazing. I can not imagine ever thinking of this in a medical procedure. It is thinking like this that makes the world advance even in the slightest ways
ReplyDeleteI was incredibly intrigued by the tittle of this post because it seemed completely insane to me that you could use feces to help fix the heart. However, after reading the post and learning about how the procedure could really help, it brought to mind how divergent Dr. Bromberg's thinking is. It is cool to see how something viewed as waste and useless could actually be used to help fix a heart.
ReplyDeleteI think Dr. Bromberg's thought process was risking but very creative. Feces carry numerous bacteria which can cause infection when they enter a biome it's not suited for. It's amazing and very creative to discover the benefit of using feces to help the success of an organ transplant. If doctors continue to display these levels of creative ideas, the medical field is going to develop to another level that might seem out-of-reach or that seem unimaginable right now.
ReplyDelete