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To save a man who needed a double - lung transplantation but had a very complicated shell , doctors rely on three cardinal tools : antibiotic drug , an artificial lung and DD - sizing breast implants .

" I never ideate we ’d be using DD breast implants to avail bridge a patient to lung transplantation , but our team is bang for taking on the most hard vitrine and thinking outside the box to save lives,“Dr . Ankit Bharat , chief of thoracic surgical process and director of the Canning Thoracic Institute at Northwestern Medicine , say in astatement .

a young man seated and wearing a hospital gown and hat pictured next to his partner in a hospital room

This photo was taken in July, while the transplant recipient, David “Davey” Bauer, was recovering from the procedure. He’s pictured here with his girlfriend and caretaker, Susan Gore

The transplant patient role , a 34 - yr - erstwhile Missouri serviceman named David " Davey " Bauer , had started smoking fag at old age 21 . He smoke about a pack a 24-hour interval until switching toe - coffin nail , or vape pen , in 2014 . In April of this year , he began experiencing shortness of breathing time and was diagnosed with the grippe . He also developed a bacterial infection of the lung that wasresistant to antibiotic handling .

Bauer was admit to a St. Louis hospital and was invest on an ECMO ( extracorporeal tissue layer oxygenation ) machine , which does the work of the heart and lung , but his condition worsened . That ’s when Northwestern received a call about Bauer postulate a twofold - lung transplant .

touch : Creating ' world-wide ' transplant organs : Modern study move us one step closer .

Two rabbits on a heart shaped rug.

" Davey ’s lung were so heavily taint that they started to liquify,“Dr . Rade Tomic , a pulmonologist and aesculapian director of the Northwestern Medicine Canning Thoracic Institute Lung Transplant Program , said in the statement . " If you looked at his X - beam , there was nothing left — the lungs were completely replete with pus . "

The Northwestern team determined that , for Bauer to pull round the transplant , his contagion would need to clear up first . To make that chance , they ’d take to remove his extensively infect lung .

To deliver oxygen to the humanity ’s organs while his lungs were remove , the team jerry - rigged part of an ECMO machine to make channels that would keep oxygenated line of descent flowing to Bauer ’s heart and out to the residue of his body .

A stock photograph of four surgeons in discussion before an operation.

" I spend the whole night thinking about how I ’m going to make these channels and do all these things , " Bharattold CNN . But even with these contrived channels in place , the medical team still postulate a way to physically support Bauer ’s mettle , give that the lungs , which commonly surround it in the chest pit , would be remove . In the end , they decide bosom implant were the best puppet for the job .

" One of our plastic surgeon was very gracious to give us a rapid - fire course on the different type , shapes and sizes of knocker implants , so we pick out a couple options and some of them were easy than others to mold inside Davey ’s breast , with the DD pick being the best fit , " Bharat said in the Northwestern statement .

Bauer ’s septic lung were removed on May 26 , his name came up for young lung on May 27 , and the procedure was complete on May 28 .

Spermatozoa, view under a microscope, illustration of the appearance of spermatozoa.

" I frankly barely recollect walk into the ER [ in St. Louis ] , " Bauer toldPeople in an single reportpublished Nov. 7 . " Then I woke up out here in Chicago with novel lungs . "

Bauer was exonerate to reclamation therapy in late September after convalesce in the intensive care unit for several month .

— How long can organs ride out outside the body before being transplanted ?

A photo of Nick as he is sat in a hospital bed following surgery. He is wearing a blue hair net and a blue face mask.

— ' animate ' hearts can be successfully transfer and could expand donor pool

— What happens to your trunk when you ’re an organ donor ?

" I plan to get a t - shirt made that says ' DD Davey ' on it and change all my gaming profiles , " Bauer say in the Northwestern statement . " But in all seriousness , I ’m so majestic to be the first Northwestern Medicine patient to undergo this innovative procedure , and I desire this medical first paves the way for more critically ill patients to obtain lung transplants in the near future . "

A close-up image of the face of a bat with their wings folded under their face

Bauer’sGoFundMe pagedetails more of his write up .

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Portrait of a female nurse preparing patient for a tomography exam at hospital at hospital.

a point-of-view image of an anaesthetist placing a mask on a patient

a rendering of the rabies virus

A photo of a patient with their surgical team after surgery. The patient is sat on a hospital bed and the team is gathered around him.

Four doctors looking down during surgery.

an illustration of a base on the moon

An aerial photo of mountains rising out of Antarctica snowy and icy landscape, as seen from NASA�s Operation IceBridge research aircraft.

A tree is silhouetted against the full completed Annular Solar Eclipse on October 14, 2023 in Capitol Reef National Park, Utah.

Screen-capture of a home security camera facing a front porch during an earthquake.

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Three-dimensional rendering of an HIV virus