2006年VOA标准英语-Organ Transplants Without Life on Medication

By Peter Fedynsky
Washington, DC
01 August 2006
 
watch Transplant report

The new lease-on-life enjoyed by organ transplant recipients² comes with a price: patients must take anti-rejection³ drugs for the rest of their lives.  But a promising⁴ new procedure could eliminate the need for lifelong medication.

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World's first heart transplant patient Louis Washkansky   
  
South Africa's Louis Washkansky was the world's first heart transplant patient.  He died of pneumonia⁵ 18 days after his operation in December 1967, because drugs used to prevent organ rejection also suppressed his body's ability to fight infection.

Organ transplants did not become routine until the 1980s with the approval of a new drug, cyclosporine, which prevented rejection without destroying the body's resistance to infection.  But anti-rejection medications have had serious side effects and must be taken for life.

Christopher McMahon   
  
Today, Christopher McMahon takes no medications -- four years after his kidney transplant.

"It's been just a blessing⁶. I love not having to get up in the morning to have my daily regimen of medicine," he says.

Eliminating the daily dose of medications involves transplanting not only the kidney, but also the donor's bone marrow⁷, which helps the recipient¹ develop a compatible immune system.  

Dr. David Sachs  
  
Dr. David Sachs is a physician at Massachusetts General Hospital.  "We essentially⁸ fool the immune system into thinking the donor's organ is part of one's own body."

The patient, however, must first undergo radiation and chemotherapy to weaken the original immune system -- an exhausting experience.

"It was obviously a tough and difficult process,” says McMahon, “but the rewards were so great it kept me going."

 
Jennifer Searl 
  
Jennifer Searl is another one of ten kidney transplant patients to successfully undergo the new procedure.  "How I'd like to describe a conventional transplant, I say it's a treatment not a cure. And I feel like this is a cure."

This new procedure is currently used only for kidney transplants.  But doctors say it could eventually be applied⁹ to other organ recipients.

1 recipient   

a.接受的,感受性强的 n.接受者,感受者,容器

参考例句：

• Please check that you have a valid email certificate for each recipient. 请检查是否对每个接收者都有有效的电子邮件证书。
• Colombia is the biggest U . S aid recipient in Latin America. 哥伦比亚是美国在拉丁美洲最大的援助对象。

2 recipients   

adj.接受的；受领的；容纳的；愿意接受的n.收件人；接受者；受领者；接受器

参考例句：

• The recipients of the prizes had their names printed in the paper. 获奖者的姓名登在报上。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The recipients of prizes had their names printed in the paper. 获奖者名单登在报上。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》

3 rejection   

n.拒绝，被拒，抛弃，被弃

参考例句：

• He decided not to approach her for fear of rejection.他因怕遭拒绝决定不再去找她。
• The rejection plunged her into the dark depths of despair.遭到拒绝使她陷入了绝望的深渊。

4 promising   

adj.有希望的，有前途的

参考例句：

• The results of the experiments are very promising.实验的结果充满了希望。
• We're trying to bring along one or two promising young swimmers.我们正设法培养出一两名有前途的年轻游泳选手。

5 pneumonia   

n.肺炎

参考例句：

• Cage was struck with pneumonia in her youth.凯奇年轻时得过肺炎。
• Pneumonia carried him off last week.肺炎上星期夺去了他的生命。

6 blessing   

n.祈神赐福；祷告；祝福，祝愿

参考例句：

• The blessing was said in Hebrew.祷告用了希伯来语。
• A double blessing has descended upon the house.双喜临门。

7 marrow   

n.骨髓；精华；活力

参考例句：

• It was so cold that he felt frozen to the marrow. 天气太冷了，他感到寒冷刺骨。
• He was tired to the marrow of his bones.他真是累得筋疲力尽了。

8 essentially   

adv.本质上，实质上，基本上

参考例句：

• Really great men are essentially modest.真正的伟人大都很谦虚。
• She is an essentially selfish person.她本质上是个自私自利的人。

9 applied   

adj.应用的；v.应用，适用

参考例句：

• She plans to take a course in applied linguistics.她打算学习应用语言学课程。
• This cream is best applied to the face at night.这种乳霜最好晚上擦脸用。