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Cleveland Clinic Performs First-In-World Full Multi-Organ Transplant to Treat Rare Appendix Cancer

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#USA, August 13, 2022 – Cleveland Clinic has successfully performed a first-in-the-world full multi-organ transplant to treat a patient with a rare form of appendix cancer called pseudomyxoma peritonei (PMP). Upon completion of the lifesaving transplant surgery, the patient received five digestive organs: liver, stomach, pancreas, duodenum, and small intestine.

Anil Vaidya, M.D., Cleveland Clinic’s Intestinal Transplant Program co-director, led the seven-surgeon team that completed the pioneering operation on a 32-year-old man in September 2021.

“The patient had one of the more advanced cases of PMP I have seen,” said Dr. Vaidya. “While about 80% of patients with the condition can be treated with traditional therapies, what do you do with the 20% for whom the traditional therapy isn’t successful? In some cases, the answer may be a multi-organ transplant.”

During the 17-hour operation, surgeons removed the patient’s diseased organs. He then received the following deceased donor’s organs all together and at the same time: liver, stomach, pancreas and duodenum (pancreaticoduodenal complex), spleen, small intestine, and right colon. The donor spleen was initially transplanted to boost the immune protection of the newly transplanted organs and improve blood flow to the pancreas until fully transplanted. The donor right colon was initially transplanted to help protect the new intestine from infection and improve its ability to absorb nutrients.  Both the donor spleen and donor right colon were removed prior to the completion of the transplant after they successfully served to protect the other organs during the operation.

“As far as we know, it is the first time in the world that a full multi-organ transplant, including the liver and four other digestive organs, is performed to treat PMP,” said Dr. Vaidya.

Prior to joining Cleveland Clinic in 2020, Dr. Vaidya performed in England the world’s first modified multi-organ transplant (excluding the liver) to treat a patient with PMP who had exhausted all other management strategies.

PMP is a rare cancer that typically originates as a tumor in the appendix. When the slow-growing tumor ruptures, its jelly-like content spreads to other digestive organs, with additional tumors developing that impair gastrointestinal function. Malnutrition and life-threatening complications ultimately occur.

Following the diagnosis in 2019, the patient began a long odyssey of treatments. He was one of the 20% of patients with PMP for whom the traditional treatments were ineffective. Often, this population of patients is left with few to no treatment options.

The patient was referred to Cleveland Clinic in 2021 in the end stage of his disease. He was receiving hospice care at that time. The patient had stopped working and could no longer eat solid foods. He was receiving nutrients intravenously through total parenteral nutrition (TPN).

“We needed to perform an evaluation to determine if transplantation in his case was safe, feasible and could provide long-term benefits,” said Dr. Vaidya.

Dr. Vaidya completed a thorough assessment of the patient’s case and received approval from Cleveland Clinic’s Intestinal Transplant Selection Committee to proceed. The patient was placed on the national transplant waiting list in July 2021.

“The patient – who needed a liver and four other digestive organs – had started to deteriorate quite rapidly,” said Dr. Vaidya. “It was touch-and-go that he would make it.”

In September 2021, a donor was found, and less than 24 hours later, the patient was undergoing the groundbreaking

surgery. The first three hours were preparatory, in essence removing the diseased abdominal organs. Next, the donor organs were inserted into the abdominal cavity, all the necessary vascular connections were completed and a left-sided ileostomy was created to handle bodily waste and let the body recover from the surgery.

“The operation was well planned and went like clockwork,” said Dr. Vaidya. “The team members knew exactly what they were going to do, and the timing was perfect. It went really well.”

Following the transplant, the patient remained in the hospital for 51 days.  Soon after he was discharged, he returned because he was suffering from a case of graft-versus-host disease, a common occurrence following intestinal or bone marrow transplants where the donated organs’ immune cells recognize the recipient’s tissues as foreign and attack the recipient.

The patient underwent a procedure perfected and performed by Amy Lightner, M.D., colorectal surgeon and director of Cleveland Clinic’s Center for Regenerative Medicine and Surgery. Dr. Lightner administered three doses of mesenchymal stromal cell (MSC)-derived exosomes, a first ever, novel treatment in solid organ transplants — another first for a patient who received a full multi-organ transplant to treat PMP.

According to Dr. Vaidya, “The patient’s recovery was absolutely amazing. His symptoms abated within two hours of the first dose.”

Nine months post-transplant, the patient, now 33, can eat and digest solid foods again and has energy to do what he loves, including walking and biking outdoors.

“There is currently no evidence of cancer recurrence,” said Dr. Vaidya.

 

Photo Captions: 

Header: Masato Fujiki, MD, (center) and the Cleveland Clinic surgical team, led by Anil Vaidya, MD, performing the first-in-world multi-organ transplant to treat a rare type of appendix cancer. (Photo courtesy of Cleveland Clinic)

1st insert: Anil Vaidya, M.D.

2nd insert: From left: Anil Vaidya, M.D., Shannon Jarancik, physician assistant, Amy Lightner, M.D., Andy Voge, patient, Rachel Voge, Andy’s wife, and Anita Barnoski, transplant coordinator.

Release: Cleveland Clinic / DPA media

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Under 5 Mortality Rate Decreasing

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Rashaed Esson

Staff Writer

 

 

#WHO#ChildDeathrate,March 13th, 2024 – The World Health Organisation (WHO) reports that the number of children who died before their 5th birthday has decreased, reaching a historic low of 4.9 million in 2022, declining by 51 percent since the year 2000. This is according to a recent release by the United Nations Inter-agency Group for Child Mortality Estimation (UN IGME).  However, despite the major progress, there is still a lot of work to prevent child mortality, as  data shows that in addition to the 4.9 million young lives lost, another 2.1 million children and youths, aged 5 to 25, also died, most of which were in sub-Saharan Africa and Southern Asia. The Organisation (WHO) says the main causes of these deaths are preventable and/or treatable issues such as complications around the time of birth, malaria and preterm birth, adding that lives could have been saved with better access to high-quality primary health care.

 

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30 Facts About Your Heart

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As you go through your day, you probably don’t spend much time thinking about your heart and all that it’s doing. But let’s take a few moments to appreciate this life-sustaining organ in your chest.

Your heart starts beating well before you’re born and continues its rhythmic work until the day you die. That’s just the start (and end) of its amazing story, though.

Here are a few more heart-related facts, courtesy of cardiologist Brian Griffin, MD.

  1. Your heart beats about 100,000 times per day. During the average person’s lifetime, their heart beats more than 2.6 billion times. (Your pulse is a way you can feel your heart beating.)
  2. The beating sound from your heart — lub-dub, lub-dub, lub-dub — is from the clap of valve leaflets opening and closing.
  3. A typical human heart valve is about the size of a half dollar.
  4. Each minute, your heart pumps nearly 1.5 gallons (5.7 liters) of blood. That’s a pump flow rate that could fill an Olympic-sized swimming pool in less than a year. (Talk about a gold medal effort!)
  5. Your adult-sized heart is about the size of two hands clasped together. A child’s heart is about the size of a single fist.
  6. Location is everything in life, right? That’s true for your heart, too. It’s located in the front of your chest, slightly behind and to the left of your breastbone. Your ribs offer extra protection for the vital organ.
  7. To make room for your heart, your left lung is slightly smaller than your right lung.
  8. Your heart weighs somewhere between 7 ounces and 15 ounces (200 grams to 425 grams), or less than a pound. The average male’s heart weighs 2 ounces (57 grams) more than the average female’s heart.
  9. For comparison’s sake, a blue whale — the world’s largest animal — has a heart weighing more than 1,000 pounds. A person could easily crawl through the aorta in that sized heart.
  10. The smallest animal heart can be found in fairyflies. You’d need a microscope to see the ticker in this tiny insect.
  11. Your heart works as a coordinated machine. The right side of your heart pumps “used” blood from your body into your lungs, where it refills with oxygen. The left side of your heart then pumps re-oxygenated blood back into your body.
  12. Almost every cell in your body gets blood from your heart. The outliers can be found in the corneas of your eyes.
  13. Your heart pumps blood through about 60,000 miles (96,000 kilometers) of blood vessels. To put that in perspective, this blood tubing system could circle the Earth at the equator TWICE.
  14. A female’s average heartbeat is faster than a male’s by almost eight beats a minute. The reason? Because their hearts are usually smaller in size, females need their hearts to beat more to pump the same amount of blood.
  15. A typical heart pumps approximately 4 tablespoons of blood with each beat.
  16. Your heart has its own electrical supply and will continue to beat even when separated from your body. This specialized network of cells is known as the heart’s electrical conduction system.
  17. Heart disease is the greatest single threat to your health and the leading cause of death globally. The good news? You can help manage your heart health through dietary choicesregular exercise and stress management.
  18. It’s true that some heart problems can be inherited. It’s also true that you can minimize their impact by managing blood pressure and cholesterol through a heart-healthy lifestyle. (See #15.)
  19. Runners have a 45% lower risk of heart disease or stroke.
  20. Cardiac health is an age-old issue, as evidence of heart disease has been found in 3,000-year-old mummies.
  21. Research shows that Monday — the start of the traditional work week — is the most common day of the week to experience a heart attack. It’s a phenomenon known as the “Blue Monday” effect.
  22. The holiday season is also heart attack season. More cardiac deaths occur on December 25 than any other day of the year. The second and third-deadliest days are December 26 and January 1.
  23. A joke a day may help keep the heart doctor away, as laughing can improve heart health by lowering stress and relaxing blood vessels. Happiness can lower your risk of heart disease, too.
  24. Why does the heart symbolize love? Probably because of the pitter-patter you feel in your chest when Cupid’s arrow strikes. (But in truth, your brain controls love — but that would make for a lousy Valentine’s Day symbol.)
  25. Despite your heart not being part of making a love connection, it can still be broken when relationships take a bad turn. An emotionally driven condition known as “broken heart syndrome” can temporarily weaken your heart muscle.
  26. Heart cancer is very rare because heart cells stop dividing in adulthood, making them more resistant to the sort of mutations that can lead to cancer.
  27. Modesty prompted the invention of the stethoscope, that iconic medical tool that healthcare providers use to listen to your heart. Before it existed, doctors had to press an ear directly to the chest of their patient.
  28. The world’s first “stopped-heart” surgery took place at Cleveland Clinic in 1956. Today, this type of surgery — which uses a machine to pump blood throughout the body while the heart is stopped during an operation — is commonplace.
  29. A cardiac surgeon at Cleveland Clinic pioneered coronary artery bypass surgery in the late 1960s. The surgery restores blood flow to areas of the heart using blood vessels transplanted from other parts of the body.

Each year, more than 2 million people around the world have open-heart surgery to address various heart conditions.

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The new Galaxy Ring is a part of Samsung’s Vision for an Intelligent Health Platform

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Dr. Hon Pak, Vice President and Head of Digital Health Team, MX Business at Samsung Electronics talks about Samsung Health platform and its newest addition: Galaxy Ring

Today, more than ever, people are defining their own wellness goals. From looking to stay fit or gaining more muscle mass, achieving better sleep, or caring for personal or family physical and mental health issues, everyone’s goals for better health look different. But one thing is common, the daily management and path towards these goals can be complicated and challenging, and most importantly, it is defined by you.

That’s why at Samsung, we’re working to empower more people to manage their health – and those they care for – their way, with a comprehensive, yet simplified approach to everyday wellness. Our vision is to improve the health of billions through connected care centered around the home by connecting devices, services and people – like only Samsung can.

 One of the biggest challenges the healthcare industry is facing today is fragmented data and how to bring it all together. Samsung is uniquely positioned to undertake this with one of the largest, most diverse connected device ecosystems. Now with Samsung Health, we’re connecting different devices and partner solutions within one cohesive platform, making it simpler to track health conditions on a Galaxy wearable.

By collecting data through advanced sensor technology, you’ll receive a deeper, more holistic understanding of your health with improved insights and integrated third party health data. And as always, your personal data on the Galaxy devices remains secure thanks to the Samsung Knox security platform.

Like any good data model, how you leverage the information is key. In this new mobile era of AI, Samsung is focused on remaining at the forefront of maximizing information. With the intelligence of AI, the most transformative technology of the century, users will receive more personalized insights and tailored health experiences through Samsung Health’s extensive global dataset from 64M monthly active users. And while every user’s wellness journey is unique, we believe they all start in the same way – by gaining a deeper understanding of their health through more comprehensive insights, spanning the longest time possible.

This is why we’ve continued to build a portfolio of tools that help track their health conveniently, continuously and accurately. This approach comes to life in our wearables portfolio with upcoming features like My Vitality Score[1] and Booster Card[2], combining more data with new intelligent analysis to deliver even more personalized and actionable guidance day and night.

With more data and greater intelligence, users will receive even more insights for preventative wellness end-to-end solutions, starting with sleep.  We’ve developed a variety of features that offer users a deeper understanding of their sleep quality and other aspects of their health during sleep. For example, the sleep apnea feature, which recently received De Novo clearance from US FDA, will detect signs of moderate to severe obstructive sleep apnea – and often undiagnosed and untreated – chronic medical condition, so they can address it with their healthcare provider.

This is just the beginning. We’re working with partners to connect these capabilities to real world solutions and services that expand access to healthcare in the home. For instance, you can create a more optimal sleep environment with a smart mattress that can fine-tune the ideal sleep temperatures for rest.

 Samsung recognizes that gaining a deep understanding of one’s personal health can result in significant long-term wellness benefits for our users. As we look to deliver on our vision of providing users with a comprehensive yet simplified approach to everyday wellness, we realize choice is a big factor. Obtaining accurate, detailed and advanced information on personal health conditions is the foundation of helping better track and action change. 

Mobile devices will become the primary access point for AI, and through Samsung Galaxy – with our broad and comprehensive product portfolio, heritage of innovation, and philosophy of open collaboration – we’re well positioned to accelerate its global expansion.  That’s why we’re thrilled to be introducing Samsung Galaxy Ring later this year – bringing Samsung’s accumulated innovations to the smallest form for comfortable 24/7 wear. As a new addition to our wearables portfolio, Galaxy Ring will offer users an all-new way to simplify everyday wellness, empowering them with greater insights and more ways to understand themselves day and night. With Galaxy Ring, users can embrace an unrivalled experience during every step of their wellness journey, all while being delivered in lockstep with Samsung’s broader vision for a more connected, integrated and seamless digital wellness platform.

 Samsung will continue to enrich and expand Galaxy AI experiences across our product categories and collaborations to bring forward mobile experiences that defy imagination. The launch of Galaxy Ring is just one of Samsung’s many initiatives that exemplifies this and delivers on our vision of improving the health and wellness of billions, starting at home, with you. Through the power of intelligence, partnerships and advanced technology, we’re helping more people better understand themselves and make the small changes that have a big impact, every day. With this, the power of Galaxy AI, and many more exciting health and wellness solutions and updates on the horizon, we can’t wait for you to see what we have in store.

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