Product Description

One of the most spectacular medical advances of the 20th century, organ transplantation has become a generally effective and routine treatment for patients with organ failure. In this book, a well-known expert in the fields of clinical transplantation and transplantation research traces the evolution of organ transplantation from its initial stirrings in the imaginations of the ancients to its status as accepted treatment for nearly 40,000 patients each year. Drawing often on his own first-hand experience, Dr Nicholas Tilney tells the story of the advances in organ transplantation, discusses how societal forces have driven its development, and reveals how its current success is marred by commercialism and exploitation of the less fortunate. Dr Tilney describes early transplantation attempts, the first successful kidney transplant in 1954 between identical twins, the scientific advances for suppressing the immune system, the introduction of the concept of host tolerance, research on donor matching, and the issue of donor brain death. He explores innovations in heart, lung, liver and other abdominal transplants and reflects on the attempts to make transplants between species. Finally he explains how organ transplantation has become a vast business, creating ethical and logistical conflicts about organ donations.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #590673 in Books
• Published on: 2003-09-12
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 336 pages

Review
"Dr. Tilney has an eye for the fascinating details, the shocking stories, and the unexpected connection. The result is a lively and enjoyable read." Atul Gawande, author of Complications: A Surgeon's Notes on an Imperfect Science; "In this elegantly written book, an international authority on organ transplantation presents his firsthand reflections on the development of this exciting field. The book is a timely, well developed, and unique contribution." Marc I. Lorber, Yale University School of Medicine

Marc I. Lorber, Yale University School of Medicine
"In this elegantly written book, an international authority on organ transplantation presents his firsthand reflections on the development of this exciting field. The book is a timely, well developed, and unique contribution."

About the Author
Nicholas L. Tilney, M.D., is the Francis D. Moore Professor of Surgery, director of the Surgical Research Laboratory at Harvard Medical School, and senior surgeon and director of the Center for Transplantation Research at Brigham & Women's Hospital, where he headed the renal transplant service between 1976 and 1992. His research in transplantation biology has been continuously funded since 1974 by the NIH, and he has been the recipient of numerous awards and honours.

Customer Reviews

From Two-Headed Dogs to the Bionic Man
The book jacket said this book is for the general public as well as the medical profession, so I gave it a shot. And it's great!

Transplant explains what is probably very basic, such as the fact that a heart transplant is completely different from a liver transplant (I guess I had thought that once they'd figured out how to pop one organ into someone, the procedure would be pretty much the same for the other organs). Transplant also goes into more detail for those who are medically inclined. Still, there really wasn't very much that an interested and moderately intelligent reader couldn't understand.

Tilney covers many aspects of transplantation, such as the mythology of grafting parts of one being onto another, the pre-twentieth century history of transplants (rather gruesome), the trial-and-error progress through most of the twentieth century, the ethics of using organs from the brain-dead or from other species, and the cultural differences that make donating organs almost impossible in some countries (in Japan, for instance, a person isn't considered dead until their heart stops beating, so there is no such thing there as being brain-dead). An interesting sidelight was the effect of war on the progress of transplantation studies. World War II provided thousands of burn victims, so that by the end of the war, surgeons had developed the procedures for skin grafts and were quite proficient at it. But the same war caused delays in the progress of kidney transplant science when the Nazis disrupted the work of Dutch doctors.

Transplant has numerous photos to illustrate the readable and engaging text. And every so often Tilney tosses in an amusing story to liven things up. Like the story of a group of transplanted monkeys in Canada who got hooked on soap operas, which made it easy for the researchers to determine when they weren't feeling well. When the monkeys weren't interested in their soaps, something was wrong!

Transplant not only filled in some big gaps in my education, but it really made me appreciate what huge advances medicine made in the last fifty years. And how much more we have to learn.