file.newsgroup.med.58873 Maven / Gradle / Ivy
From: [email protected] (Michael Holloway)
Subject: Re: ORGAN DONATION AND TRANSPLANTATION FACT SHEET
In a previous article, [email protected] (Doug Bank) says:
>In article <[email protected]>, [email protected]
>|> Organ donors are healthy people who have died suddenly, usually
>|> through accident or head injury. They are brain dead. The
>|> organs are kept alive through mechanical means.
>
>OK, so how do you define healthy people?
>
>My wife cannot donate blood because she has been to a malarial region
>in the past three years. In fact, she tried to have her bone marrow
>typed and they wouldn't even do that! Why?
>
>I can't donate blood either because not only have I been to a malarial
>region, but I have also been diagnosed (and surgically treated) for
>testicular cancer. The blood bank wont accept blood from me for 10
>years.
Obviously, it wouldn't be of much help to treat one problem by knowingly
introducing another. Cancer mestastizes. My imperfect understanding of
the facts are that gonadal cancer is particularly dangerous in this regard.
I haven't done the research on it, but I don't recall ever hearing of a
case of cancer being transmitted by a blood transfusion. Probably just a
common sense kind of arbitrary precaution. Transmissable diseases like
malaria though are obviously another story.
--
Michael Holloway
E-mail: [email protected] (mail to freenet is forwarded)
phone: (516)444-3090