TRAILBLAZING TREATMENTS
MARION McMULLEN looks at some modern medical milestones as we reach the 50th anniversary of the first liver transplant in Europe
TRADITIONAL cures and remedies used to be the only solution if you were feeling poorly centuries ago.
Remedies for deadly cholera outbreaks in the 19th century included sipping ginger or cinnamon tea, while in the 18th century it was thought swallowing lead could help asthma victims by settling their lungs... they were also advised to tuck into boiled carrots for two weeks.
Asparagus was considered good for cleansing the liver and kidneys, but modern medical breakthroughs have seen a revolution in treatments.
Professor Sir Roy Calne carried out the first liver transplant in Europe 50 years ago this month by leading a pioneering operation at Addenbrooke’s Hospital in Cambridge.
His first patient was a 46-year-old woman with a form of liver cancer and the donor was a child with meningitis whose parents had consented to the procedure when life support was removed.
The operation was successful and the recipient recovered, but unfortunately died two months later due to an inflammation of the lungs.
Sir Roy went on to be the first to use an immunosuppressant in 1978, which was found to be effective in reducing organ rejection and led to major improvements in kidney, liver, pancreas and thoracic transplants.
In the early days of transplant, the surgical team and recipients would often travel to the donor, reducing the time the organ was without a blood supply.
“As soon as the heart stops, all the organs start very rapidly to deteriorate and so we would take a sick patient to the hospital where the patient had died – the donor,” remembers Sir Roy, who faced opposition when he arranged the first liver transplant.
“Actually, sometimes it was remarkable for the patient, who might be ill in hospital in King’s College in London and then wake up at Cambridge, never having been to Cambridge before.”
South African surgeon Dr Christiaan Barnard carried out the world’s first heart transplant operation on grocer Louis Washkansky at Groote Schuur Hospital even earlier, in 1967.
The patient survived for 18 days after the transplant.
Dr Barnard later said: “On Saturday, I was a surgeon in South Africa, very little known. On Monday, I was world renowned.”
Edward Jenner was helping the fight against smallpox by coming up with the first vaccine in 1796. Before then the disease was nearly always fatal and rare survivors were often left blind.
Advances in medicine also took a major step forward in 1928 when Scottish scientist Alexander Fleming accidentally developed the mould that would develop into penicillin.
He later said: “One sometimes finds what one is not looking for.”
Fleming had been an army medic during the First World War and had seen first hand how deadly infections could be to injured soldiers.
The First World War also saw the development of the ambulance service.
Getting prompt medical attention for injured soldiers on the frontline often meant the difference between life and death and the motor ambulance corps was formed.
The Second World War also saw major advances in plastic surgery and skin grafts. New Zealander Archibald McIndoe worked as one of only a few plastic surgeons in the UK at the time and worked with the RAF.
He helped to treat pilots who had suffered horrific burns after being shot down and pioneered groundbreaking reconstructive techniques on the men in his care – who became known as The Guinea Pig Club.
A major medical milestone was also reached 40 years ago in 1978 when Louise Brown became the world’s first test tube baby.
She was born at Oldham General Hospital after her parents, Lesley and John, became the first people to successfully undergo in virto fertilisation (IVF) treatment. Their daughter weighed in at 5lbs 12oz.
Louise brought out her own autobiography, My Life As The World’s First Test Tube Baby, three years ago looking back on her headline-making appearance.
Dr Francis Crick and Dr James Watson together with Maurice Wilkins won the Nobel Prize for medicine in 1962 for their work in the discovery of the DNA molecules.
The Nobel committee said the award recognised “their discoveries concerning the molecular structure of nucleic acids and its significance for information transfer in living material”.
Hailed as one of the most significant discoveries of the 20th century, the research is now helping to unlock more discoveries about human genetic code and mutation.
Dr Crick said simply of the work: “We’ve discovered the secret of life.”