11 ms·

Initially I thought that the reason for this would be that most people with transplants live less than 10 years, and eligibility requirements of who gets transp

Initially I thought that the reason for this would be that most people with transplants live less than 10 years, and eligibility requirements of who gets transplants (and therefore who gets calcineurin inhibitors) might further complicate the results. Wow, was I ever wrong. This article says it's not too uncommon for people to live 30 years after their transplant. Other articles say that even the obese are eligible for transplantation now. Very impressive. https://wexnermedical.osu.edu/blog/how-long-do-transplanted-organs-last https://wexnermedical.osu.edu/blog/how-long-do-transplanted-... That being said, I know life extension and nootropics and all that jazz is a really popular topic with tech bros, so its worth noting the side effects of calcineurin inhibitors are really bad. It's also neat ciclosporin was isolated from some scandanavian fungus living in the soil. Makes me sad thinking about how once we are able to significantly understand and appreciate genetics and related biotechnology later this century, half of the species on earth will already be gone, their amazing biological traits and compounds lost forever.

fortran77 5y ago
> Other articles say that even the obese are eligible for transplantation now. Very impressive. I would hope that would be before any right-weight candidate had been ruled out. Otherwise it's grossly unfair.
- aklemm 5y ago
  Maybe if obesity resulted merely from character flaws, but clearly there’s something environmental going on. Nonetheless, would it be unfair to give transplants to manual laborers and motorcycle riders as their chances of dying early are high?
pkaye 5y ago
Sirolimus and Tacrolimus are two other common anti-rejection medicines. They were found in Easter Island and Japanese soil samples respectively.
- actually_a_dog 5y ago
  For those less familiar, Sirolimus is a trade name for rapamycin.
snapetom 5y ago
I'm a pessimist and when I look at the graft half-life in your article, it puts a wet blanket on things. For example, half of kidney transplants from a deceased donor fail in 7-9 years. That's not a lot of time. A lung gets you on average less than five years. I would be interested in whether it's survivorship bias, or lack of in this case.
- maxerickson 5y ago
  I don't really understand your formulation here. How is your view about the benefit of organ transplantation pessimistic? Patients living 7 years instead of dying in short order is a pretty good trick for doctors to be working. For pessimism to make sense, there needs to be some better option than that available.
  - snapetom 5y ago
    Did you read the original article? The context of this is in regards to dementia. A dead 40 year old, regardless of whether they had a transplant at 30 or not, is probably not going to have dementia.
    - maxerickson 5y ago
      There's a reasonable sample of over 65s.
- hpagey 5y ago
  The average lifespan of deceased donor kidney is 10 to 15 years and for live donor is around 15 to 20 years. People normally get multiple transplants throughout their lives.
  - jxramos 5y ago
    I thought all donors had to be living with a beating heart, are deceased non-heartbeat donors viable for some subset of organ transplants? How does this work exactly?
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JohnTHaller 5y ago
My Dad and I celebrated our 20th kidneyversary this year. The kidney I gave him in 2000 is still going strong (knock wood).
specialist 5y ago
Wild tangent: Another side effect of cyclosporin is increased hair growth. Every where. I shaved my ears while taking it. I saw women on cyclosporin growing beards. The person(s) who figure out why will become very rich. Imagine a rogaine (minoxidil) that actually worked. I've shared this tidbit a few times. I've met (socially) a few people working in pharma. One was even working on hair growth. I don't think anyone I've told ever believed me. It's so weird how silos increase as knowledge expand. The other side effects of cyclosporin truly suck. I doubt I'd ever use it off-label, in hopes of saving some brain cells. But I hope someone can learn from cyclosporin and maybe find alternatives.

fortran77 5y ago

> Other articles say that even the obese are eligible for transplantation now. Very impressive. I would hope that would be before any right-weight candidate had been ruled out. Otherwise it's grossly unfair.

aklemm 5y ago
Maybe if obesity resulted merely from character flaws, but clearly there’s something environmental going on. Nonetheless, would it be unfair to give transplants to manual laborers and motorcycle riders as their chances of dying early are high?

pkaye 5y ago

Sirolimus and Tacrolimus are two other common anti-rejection medicines. They were found in Easter Island and Japanese soil samples respectively.

actually_a_dog 5y ago
For those less familiar, Sirolimus is a trade name for rapamycin.

snapetom 5y ago

I'm a pessimist and when I look at the graft half-life in your article, it puts a wet blanket on things. For example, half of kidney transplants from a deceased donor fail in 7-9 years. That's not a lot of time. A lung gets you on average less than five years. I would be interested in whether it's survivorship bias, or lack of in this case.

maxerickson 5y ago
I don't really understand your formulation here. How is your view about the benefit of organ transplantation pessimistic? Patients living 7 years instead of dying in short order is a pretty good trick for doctors to be working. For pessimism to make sense, there needs to be some better option than that available.
- snapetom 5y ago
  Did you read the original article? The context of this is in regards to dementia. A dead 40 year old, regardless of whether they had a transplant at 30 or not, is probably not going to have dementia.
  - maxerickson 5y ago
    There's a reasonable sample of over 65s.
hpagey 5y ago
The average lifespan of deceased donor kidney is 10 to 15 years and for live donor is around 15 to 20 years. People normally get multiple transplants throughout their lives.
- jxramos 5y ago
  I thought all donors had to be living with a beating heart, are deceased non-heartbeat donors viable for some subset of organ transplants? How does this work exactly?

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JohnTHaller 5y ago

My Dad and I celebrated our 20th kidneyversary this year. The kidney I gave him in 2000 is still going strong (knock wood).

specialist 5y ago

Wild tangent: Another side effect of cyclosporin is increased hair growth. Every where. I shaved my ears while taking it. I saw women on cyclosporin growing beards. The person(s) who figure out why will become very rich. Imagine a rogaine (minoxidil) that actually worked. I've shared this tidbit a few times. I've met (socially) a few people working in pharma. One was even working on hair growth. I don't think anyone I've told ever believed me. It's so weird how silos increase as knowledge expand. The other side effects of cyclosporin truly suck. I doubt I'd ever use it off-label, in hopes of saving some brain cells. But I hope someone can learn from cyclosporin and maybe find alternatives.