Transplants Coronary by-pass surgery Pacemakers Heart transplant Bone marrow transplants Kidneys Bionic ear Corneal transplants Artificial skin Hip replacement Diabetes

Our body's functioning can be affected by disease or damage through injury. Medical advances have resulted in transplants or artificial replacements for many of the body's parts.

Transplants
Transplants of organs from one individual to another are becoming more common with greater success because:

• laboratory testing identifies good matching between donor and recipient.
  
  
• we have greater knowledge of drugs capable of suppressing the body's immunoresponse mechanism which normally rejects foreign substances in the body.

Coronary by-pass surgery
Chest pains during exercise (angina) may be due to an occlusion (narrowing or blockage) in the coronary arteries which supply the heart muscle. These arteries can be replaced using veins from the leg, by-passing the obstruction. "Double By-pass" = two replaced arteries. "Triple"= three.

Pacemakers
These tiny machines are placed under the skin to emit small electrical impulses to control the rate of heartbeat. The first internal pacemaker was implanted in 1958.

Heart transplant
In 1967, Christian Barnard (South Africa) performed the first heart transplant from a recently deceased donor. These are now common and successful, with the working of the heart and lungs carried out mechanically during surgery. The first Australian heart-lung transplant was carried out by Dr Victor Chang in 1986, and the first lung transplant was in 1990.

Bone marrow transplants
Healthy bone marrow tissue can be transplanted from a living donor to a leukaemia sufferer to stabilise blood cell production.

Kidneys
Kidney dialysis machines are able to filter wastes from the blood, the job normally done by the healthy kidney. It involves diverting the blood through the membranes in the machine three times a week for up to ten hours at a time. Kidney transplants are now common. Living donors can be used as donors can still survive quite adequately on one healthy kidney.

Bionic ear
First implanted in 1978 by Australian inventor Professor Graeme Clark, the cochlear implant picks up vibrations in the inner ear, stimulating the auditory nerve and thus carrying out the function of the damaged cochlear.

Corneal transplants
With age, and some diseases, the lens of the eye becomes cloudy and opaque due to cataract formation. Dr Fred Hollows (Australia) simplified the operation for intra-ocular lens replacement, restoring sight to thousands in the Third World. Similarly, corneal transplants can replace the scarred cornea in trachoma sufferers (See also Human senses A: Sight and sound).

Artificial skin
First used in 1981 by Yannis (USA) to treat third degree burns, artificial skin is made from a polymer (long, chain-like molecule) combined with other substances, including a chemical extracted from shark's cartilage. The artificial skin protects the wound from infection and encourages new growth. When a layer of the patient's own skin is grafted over the top, the wound heals quickly while the polymer is broken down by the body's immune system.

Hip replacement
John Wiles (UK) first used stainless steel for the replacement of the head of the femur in 1938. It involves an artificial ball for the joint itself and a straight piece of metal inserted into the leg bone for strength and support. Artificial elbows and shoulder joints are now also common, bringing great relief to arthritis sufferers.

Diabetes
Controlled-release insulin dispensers may soon reduce the need for daily insulin injections by diabetes sufferers whose bodies lack the ability to make their own insulin.

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