8 ms·
We've only had organ transplants for 60 years. I'd like to know how far we could push it in a world where we have a donor organ pool grown to order and a preven
by piyh 5y ago
We've only had organ transplants for 60 years. I'd like to know how far we could push it in a world where we have a donor organ pool grown to order and a preventative approach to organ replacement.
Take the guy with a pig heart and extend that tech 60 years out, then take the richest man on earth who will spare no expense for him and his statistically significant pool of people willing to undergo this experiment with him. The brain and circulatory system and are going to be some of the limiting factors to this approach, but in my uneducated opinion would have a good shot at creating the oldest people to live, albeit with a high dropout rate.
- cheese_goddess 5y agoKeep in mind that transplanted organ recipients must take immunosuppresants for life and that transplanted orgrans eventually fail, usually within a decade or so. Being on immunosuppressants means even a common cold can kill you without medical care. This is probably more of a limiting factor for long-term survival by continuous transplants than the availability of donors.
- nradov 5y agoThe next big step in organ transplantation will be custom grown personalized organs which don't trigger an immune response, and thus don't require immunosuppressants. This might be available in a limited form for some organs in our lifetimes. However, I'm skeptical that this will extend maximum human lifespans. The transplant surgery itself is extremely risky for elderly people. Consider the risks of cognitive decline caused by general anesthesia, post-surgical infections, blood clots, sarcopenia caused by bed rest, etc.