Surgery, features and articles | Educational Science

Aug 2, 2020

What happens to your body when you're an organ donor?

With organ donation, the death of one person can lead to the survival of many others. But when a donor dies, how do doctors save their organs for transplantation? In order to be an organ donor, you have to be in a hospital, on a ventilator, and have some type...

Aug 29, 2021

Why do faces become less symmetrical with age?

Look at any newborn baby, and their cute little face will likely appear almost entirely symmetrical. But with age, that wee babe will accrue wrinkles, drooping skin and maybe even scars that accentuate asymmetry. In fact, research has shown that the impact of aging isn't limited to wrinkles and fine...

Oct 13, 2021

Lobotomy: Definition, procedure and history

Lobotomy, also known as leucotomy, is a neurosurgical operation that involves permanently damaging parts of the brain's prefrontal lobe, according to the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). Introduced in the mid-20th century, lobotomies have always been controversial, but were widely performed for more than two decades as...

Oct 20, 2021

Pig kidney successfully hooked up to human patient in watershed experiment

In a groundbreaking experiment, scientists hooked up a genetically modified pig kidney to a human patient and watched as the organ successfully filtered waste from the person's body. The experiment was conducted in a brain-dead patient who was a registered organ donor and whose family granted permission for the procedure...

Jan 11, 2022

Surgeons transplant pig's heart into dying human patient in a first

Update on March 9, 2022: The man who received the pig-heart transplant died two months after the historic surgery. Doctors aren't sure the exact cause of death. Read the full story on Live Science. Doctors have transplanted the heart from a genetically modified pig into the chest of a man...

Feb 16, 2022

Creating 'universal' transplant organs: New study moves us one step closer.

Scientists successfully converted donated lungs into universal transplant organs in a proof-of-concept experiment. That means, theoretically, the lungs could be transplanted into any recipient, regardless of their blood type, as long as the organs were the appropriate size. In the new study, published Wednesday (Feb. 16) in the journal Science...

Feb 21, 2022

How did doctors perform surgery before modern anesthesia?

In 1811, English novelist Fanny Burney underwent a mastectomy without so much as a shot of whiskey to dim the pain. In letters she wrote to her sister after the operation, she recalls, I began a scream that lasted unintermittingly [sic] during the whole time of the incision — and...

Mar 9, 2022

Man who received 1st pig heart transplant has died

A man who received a groundbreaking transplant using a heart from a genetically modified pig has died, according to news reports. The man, 57-year-old David Bennett Sr., died Tuesday (March 8), two months after his surgery, according to The New York Times. The exact cause of death is still unclear,...

Mar 11, 2022

1st-of-its-kind heart transplant in infant could prevent organ rejection

A baby in North Carolina has received a first-of-its-kind heart transplant that may prevent his body from rejecting the organ without the need for lifelong drugs to suppress the immune system. The child, Easton Sinnamon, is the first person to receive a heart transplant along with implantation of thymus tissue...

Jun 17, 2022

3 kids receive kidney transplants without need for immune-suppressing drugs

Three children with a rare genetic disease needed kidney transplants, and by using a unique transplantation technique, doctors successfully replaced the kids' kidneys without the need for any immune-suppressing drugs. Typically, after receiving a transplant, organ recipients must take immunosuppressive drugs for the rest of their lives, in order to...

Jul 14, 2022

2 pig hearts were successfully transplanted into brain-dead human patients

Doctors recently transplanted pig hearts into two deceased patients, raising hopes that animal transplants could one day be used to save human lives. Led by Dr. Nader Moazami, a cardiac surgeon at NYU Langone Health medical center in New York City, the surgeries took place in June and July, according...

Aug 3, 2022

Scientists revived the cells of pigs an hour after death, a potential organ transplant breakthrough

The pigs had already been dead for an hour, and yet, the cells of their hearts, brains and livers were still kicking. Thanks to a new system called OrganEx, scientists can now keep the dying organs of recently deceased pigs alive by hooking the animals up to a system of...

Aug 17, 2022

'Poop Pills' Work Just As Well As Traditional Fecal Transplants

Poop transplants given as a pill may work just as well as those delivered via colonoscopy, and the pill form may be a more pleasant treatment method for patients, a new study from Canada finds. The medical name for these transplants is fecal microbiota transplantations (FMTs), but they're commonly referred...

Aug 31, 2022

Weight-Loss Supplement Linked to Liver Failure Case

A healthy 35-year-old woman who took a weight-loss supplement developed liver failure, and needed a liver transplant, according to a new report of her case. The woman took three Saba Appetite Control and Energy (ACE) pills within two days, and two weeks later she developed jaundice, according to the report...

Mar 2, 2023

Vasectomy: Procedure, risks and reversal

A vasectomy is a form of birth control for men. This minimally invasive surgical procedure prevents sperm from entering the semen and then being released during ejaculation. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), a vasectomy is a minor surgery to cut or seal the vas deferens...