Medicine: Progress in Transplants

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In the near future of medicine and surgery, probably no problem is more fundamental than the rejection reaction. By understanding it, doctors may find answers to the riddle of cancer and a host of other ills. A prime example is the kidney inflammation that almost killed John Riteris. There is good reason to suspect, says Dr. Merrill, that his nephritis was the result of an "autoimmune reaction," in which some of the body's cells turn against its own tissues to destroy them. The same may be true of certain thyroid diseases.

In the field of transplants, the great target is the heart. Some victims of atherosclerotic coronary disease (the leading killer in the U.S. today) might be saved if they could receive a transplant of a healthy heart from, say, a traffic accident victim. Infants with certain inborn heart defects would have a chance of survival.

The time may come when doctors will be able to take out all sorts of damaged or imperfect organs and replace them with little more difficulty than changing the carburetor in an automobile.