Science Friday Kids' Connection^tm -- in association with Kidsnet
Happy Anniversary! 50 Years of Organ Transplants (December 17, 2004, Two)

Program Summary | Guests | Related Links and Resources | For Discussion | Activities | Hear the program | About Kids Connection | SFKC Home

Program Summary

On December 23, 1954, a man gave his twin brother the ultimate gift – a kidney. It was the first organ transplant in history. The recipient lived eight more years, and the surgeon who performed the operation won a Nobel Prize. Medicine was changed forever.

The five decades since the transplant have seen astounding developments in transplant medicine and technology. Rejection of the donated organ was a major obstacle; while the first procedure was successful because the brothers were identical twins, the survival rate for subsequent transplants was dismal. Very few were attempted. Then drugs were developed that prevented rejection by suppressing the immune system, and transplantation expanded from just kidneys to hearts, livers, lungs, corneas, intestines, and more.

Yet the availability of organs falls far short of the need for them. In China, it’s permissible to sell an organ you can live without, like a kidney, a lung, or a liver lobe; this is illegal in the U.S. and most other countries. To overcome the shortage, research has moved into areas that we usually regard as science fiction material – using organs from non-human species, “growing” organs from stem cells, creating artificial organs. But these advances bring with it a whole new set of questions, questions that perhaps someday your students will answer.

Guests

Charles A. Vacanti, MD, director of the Laboratory for Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine at Brigham and Women's Hospital; Vandam/Covino professor of anaesthesia at Harvard Medical School in Boston, Massachusetts

Thomas E. Starzl, transplant surgeon and professor of surgery at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

Related Links and Resources

Chicago Sun-Times, December 2004: “50 Years of Organ Transplants”
Food and Drug Administration Consumer Magazine, June 1996: “Organ Transplants from Animals: Examining the Possibilities”
Howstuffworks.com: "How Organ Transplants Work"
PBS.org: A Science Odyssey: People and Discoveries: First successful kidney transplant performed
TransWeb. org: All About Transplantation and Donation
United Network for Organ Sharing

For Discussion:

• Define these terms: allograft, xenograft, isotransplant, autotransplant
• What is organ rejection? Why would the body reject a donated organ? Why did the 1954 transplant work?
• Do you think animal organs should be used if they can be compatible with humans? Why or why not?
• What are the physical obstacles to using animal or artificial organs?
• Do you think people should be allowed to sell their organs? Why or why not?
• How could stem cells be used to create organs for transplant?

Activities

Take a part, any part. Two outstanding projects from Thinkquest examine organ donation. Modern Miracles: Organ Transplants, a 1999 Platinum Award winner, is a sophisticated, well-organized and well-designed site that outlines advances and challenges in transplant technology and tackles thorny ethical issues. The interactive lab features puzzles, quizzes, personal stories, and surveys. At Organ University, attend classes to learn about the transplant process. Visit transplant centers around the country, watch video clips from an interview with a transplant surgeon, learn vital statistics, and read moving stories about a donor mom and a heart recipient.

Are you kidney-ing me? Watch a kidney transplant video at TransWeb.org. You can also follow along with a family as they make the decision to donate a loved one’s organs, register to be a donor, and view a Webcast of the 2004 Transplant Games.

The gift of life. PBS is an excellent resource for information on organ transplantation. The Body Shop, part of Scientific American Frontiers “The Bionic Body,” looks at tissue engineering. It mentions the ear grown on the back of a mouse and a video of tissue growing on a scaffold, both of which are discussed by Ira’s guests. Encouraging Cell Growth, in the teachers’ guide, has students simulate the tissue growth process. At NOVA’s Electric Heart | Operation: Heart Transplant, students can perform a virtual heart transplant. Frontline’s Organ Farm is an in-depth examination of transplanting pig cells and the accompanying controversy over xenotransplantion. A video interview with a 21-year-old stroke victim who received a cell transplant is featured.

No easy answers. Beating the Odds (New York Times Learning Network) is a lesson plan built around the ground-breaking implantation of a totally self-contained artificial heart in a human. The operation was performed in 2001. Have students research the event to find out what happened to the patient and whether artificial hearts will ever be practical. The Pig Products lesson plans delves into cloning animals for the purpose of providing organs for transplant.

Use the search box below to perform a Google search within any of the specifc sites or general domains mentioned in this Activities section.

Hear the Program

Listen to this program in RealAudio!

RealAudio archive courtesy of NPR Online. If nothing happens when you click the link, you may need to download a free player.