As 2024 draws to a close, I’d like to highlight three recent health care stories that put a smile on my face.
The first is from the Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center in Columbus, Ohio. Their transplant surgery team recently completed a record-setting combination of 20 transplant surgeries as part of a “chain” to match compatible donors with appropriate recipients.
For example, suppose Mrs. Adams needed a kidney and her husband Mr. Adams was willing to donate one of his kidneys to her, but he was not a suitable tissue “match.” Similarly, Mrs. Baker needed a kidney and Mr. Baker was willing to donate a kidney, but he was also not match for his wife. An appropriate matching algorithm could find suitable pairings such that Mr. Baker could safely donate his kidney to Mrs. Adams (and Mr. Adams to Mrs. Baker), such that everyone benefited. Neither couple alone could meet their spouse’s needs, but by collaborating, everyone wins.
In the recent Ohio State University example, the surgeons were able to find a “chain” of 10 recipients (and 10 donors) such that each recipient received a compatible kidney from a suitable donor. As expected, everything had to work right for the chain to succeed. The transplant team performed 20 surgeries over two days (10 surgeries to remove the kidneys from the donors and 10 more to place the kidneys in the recipients.) As the medical team noted, “A change in health status as simple as a cold or fever could have broken the exchange.”
Stanford professor Alvin Roth won a Nobel Prize in 2012 for his work in developing matchmaking methods such as used by the organ transplant team. If you want to see a fascinating video featuring husband-and-wife team Drs. Dorry Segev and Sommer Gentry on the mathematics and the biology of transplant matchmaking, I highly recommend this short 21-minute documentary, “The Right Match.”
Kidney transplant in the urology, Nice, France, kidney is taken from a living related donor, the … [+]
The second story came from Rose Hospital in Denver, Colorado. The hospital is using specially trained therapy dogs to help medical staff cope with stress and burnout. For example, OB-GYN physician Dr. Kristina Fraser was able to spend a few minutes petting one of the therapy dogs just before tending to an urgent pregnancy delivery. The dogs help the doctors, nurses, and other medical providers enjoy a much-needed “calming moment” before proceeding with the next task.
Heck, I felt calmer just listening to the story.
The full story from NPR’s Morning Edition is available here.
My final feel-good story of 2024 is that we have eradicated “murder hornets” in the US. These giant hornets can be very deadly to humans, and can also wreak enormous damage to honeybee hives. According to Sven Spichiger, pest program manager of the Washington State Department of Agriculture, “I’ve gotta tell you, as an entomologist—I’ve been doing this for over 25 years now, and it is a rare day when the humans actually get to win one against the insects.”
2025 will undoubtedly bring a new round of challenges (and opportunities). But for now, we can look back 2024 and enjoy some health successes. Happy New Year to everyone!
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