Baby gets heart transplant with a twist to fight rejection
CTV
Duke University doctors say a baby is thriving after a first-of-its-kind heart transplant -- one that came with a bonus technique to try to help prevent rejection of the new organ.
The thymus plays a critical role in building the immune system. Doctors have wondered if implanting some thymus tissue that matched a donated organ might help it survive without the recipient needing toxic anti-rejection medicines.
Easton Sinnamon of Asheboro, North Carolina, received his unique transplant last summer when he was 6 months old. But Duke waited to announce it until Monday after doctors learned the specially processed thymus implants appear to be functioning like they'd hoped -- producing immune cells that don't treat the tot's new heart like foreign tissue.
Doctors eventually will try weaning Easton off the immune-suppressing drugs required after a transplant, said Dr. Joseph Turek, Duke's chief of pediatric cardiac surgery.
The research is in very early stages and just one possible method scientists are testing in hopes of inducing what's called immune tolerance to a transplant.
