In an innovative procedure, doctors at Northwestern Medicine in Chicago conducted a double-lung transplant using breast implants, saving a man with severe lung damage from prolonged smoking, as relayed by Fox 32 Chicago.
The patient, Davey Bauer, earlier this year developed serious respiratory issues, flu, and lung infection. When his condition failed to improve with antibiotics at a St. Louis hospital, doctors chose to use extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO), to oxygenate blood outside of the body and give the lungs and heart an opportunity for healing. It was later determined that a double-lung transplant was going to be necessary as stated in CNN.
While awaiting donor lungs, medical professionals at Northwestern Memorial Hospital faced a unique challenge in maintaining Bauer's bodily functions. They adopted an unusual approach, implanting large breast implants in his chest, intended to hold his heart in place and avoid it shifting to one side. These provisional placeholders ensured the heart's stability during the wait for donor lungs.
A suitable donor was found, the breast implants were subsequently removed, and a double-lung transplant was successfully conducted. The case, complicated in nature, has become a beacon of hope for life-saving medical evolution. Dr. Ankit Bharat, chief of thoracic surgery and director of Canning Thoracic Institute at Northwestern Medicine, who treated Bauer, mentioned that there had been no other options for acute lung failure patients, except facing the certainty of death.
CNN reported that the innovative technique, used by the surgeons in the double-lung transplant, has been hailed by Dr. Albert Rizzo, chief medical officer of the American Lung Association, as an ingenious method of solving a problem.
