If they were to take the diseased portion of the colon from a person with crohns and resect it into the colon of a healthy person would that healthy person develop crohns or would the diseased portion of the colon heal on its own and they would never develop crohns? And also I have never heard of a colon transplant, but don't know if that is possible or not.
Hypothetical Questions
- Thread starter kirkland
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Interesting thoughts!!
I wish they could do transplant, I'd be all over that!
I wish they could do transplant, I'd be all over that!
My Butt Hurts
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I would think that the healthy person with the Crohn's implant would heal itself, since Crohn's isn't contagious.
It seems at first glance that a transplant should work, but if the whole immune system thing is bigger than just intestines, it makes sense that it wouldn't work.
I believe they have been doing expiriments with transplanted pig intestines. Maybe it's in the future for us.
I just googled 'intestinal transplant' and some info came up, but I didn't read through it.
It seems at first glance that a transplant should work, but if the whole immune system thing is bigger than just intestines, it makes sense that it wouldn't work.
I believe they have been doing expiriments with transplanted pig intestines. Maybe it's in the future for us.
I just googled 'intestinal transplant' and some info came up, but I didn't read through it.
Crohn's 35
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Yes the pig theory is being sought upon.. stem cell research but with the economy as bad as it it, CD and IBD is at the bottom of the barrel for donations and they are low in funding. Research cost millions...
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My thoughts... other transplants require lifelong immuno-suppressants so that their immune system doesn't attack the new organ. So, it would seem to me that we would still be in the same predicament. Our immune system would still attack the new colon. I think, at least. I have been know to be wrong.... a lot....
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Yeah its not faulty intestines that we suffer from, its confused immune systems that attack the intestines.
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If this was actually done, then the 'diseased' implanted tissue would be rejected by the healthy person anyway.
xX_LittleMissValentine_Xx
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This confuses me though because; for type one diabetes, which is also an auto immune disorder, which attacks the pancreas, they do do pancreas transplants. It was in one of my lectures the other day. I was going to ask the lecturer about it after but i forgot. I hate not understanding things!
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xX_LittleMissValentine_Xx
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Ooops double post!
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xX_LittleMissValentine_Xx said:
Maybe because the person having the transplant will need immunosuppressant drugs which will prevent damage of the beta cells in the pancreas? Plus they'd be a source of non damaged beta cells for a while anyway. I know they only do the transplant is serious cases.
I guess with crohn's even if you did transplant an entire colon for example, there's still be risks of the disease moving to the small intestine. Maybe it's something they'd consider doing in the future though.
The transplanted pancreas will often fail also, given enough time. It keeps the person alive for many years, but it often ends up in the same condition as the original one in the end.
I know a person who has had this done, and she is doing OK now, but it is not a trouble free solution by any means.
Dan
I know a person who has had this done, and she is doing OK now, but it is not a trouble free solution by any means.
Dan
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well if you think about it, a pancreas is something you can't really live without.
whereas, when part of our intestine becomes diseased, we can have that part removed and live without it.
so i guess it just makes more sense to transplant a pancreas that is severely damaged/not working, because you simply cannot live without one? and transplanting part of an intestine is kind of counterintuitive? because we can live without a lot of intestine, and would probably be attacked by the immune system anyways.
interesting thoughts though!
whereas, when part of our intestine becomes diseased, we can have that part removed and live without it.
so i guess it just makes more sense to transplant a pancreas that is severely damaged/not working, because you simply cannot live without one? and transplanting part of an intestine is kind of counterintuitive? because we can live without a lot of intestine, and would probably be attacked by the immune system anyways.
interesting thoughts though!
The healthy person getting the CD portion of the colon (or any other part of the intestines) would likely have rejection issues and become very sick and possibly die...the diseased colon that the healthy person got would not heal.
Intestinal transplants have been done and found to be useless since the disease is actually the onset of an immune disorder which happens to affect the GI tract...it is costly and rejection is/was a huge issue in this regard as well since the GI tract is huge compared to getting a pancreas or other smaller organ. But the biggest issue besides all that is, the disease would come back because again, it's the immune system that is the real issue which happens to affect the GI tract.
Intestinal transplants have been done and found to be useless since the disease is actually the onset of an immune disorder which happens to affect the GI tract...it is costly and rejection is/was a huge issue in this regard as well since the GI tract is huge compared to getting a pancreas or other smaller organ. But the biggest issue besides all that is, the disease would come back because again, it's the immune system that is the real issue which happens to affect the GI tract.
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"oh no I've gone cross-eyed" ~ austin powers.
this is an interesting thought. although I think that we're bound to see intestines grown in a test tube for us before we get them transplanted from others. it would be a wonderful thing for many CD patients to get intestines they've lost back...
I really am optimistic that we're going to see some awesome things happen in medicine over the next 10-15 yrs.
this is an interesting thought. although I think that we're bound to see intestines grown in a test tube for us before we get them transplanted from others. it would be a wonderful thing for many CD patients to get intestines they've lost back...
I really am optimistic that we're going to see some awesome things happen in medicine over the next 10-15 yrs.
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braveheart
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I think a healthy person is always a healthy person...
So the diseased portion of the colon would heal on its own.
I wish I could join the healthy club.
So the diseased portion of the colon would heal on its own.
I wish I could join the healthy club.
yeah I agree with the majority of people here. Crohn's is auto-immune disease so its got nothing to do with that intestine. Although it may be very badly scared it would heal I think in the healthy person and if we had the healthy section we would feel better for a time until it too has been attacked by Crohn's. The immuno suppresents may work but if they do work well then those drugs should have been used with your old intestine anyways.
yeah I agree with the majority of people here. Crohn's is auto-immune disease so its got nothing to do with that intestine. Although it may be very badly scared it would heal I think in the healthy person and if we had the healthy section we would feel better for a time until it too has been attacked by Crohn's. The immuno suppresents may work but if they do work well then those drugs should have been used with your old intestine anyways.
The damaged area(s) can be healed, there may be scarring but they can still heal...don't forget, there are different symptoms for different people, some don't really get inflammation, they get fistulas or polyps but no inflammation, so it really just depends on how bad the damage is too. Many people go for colonoscopies and are told their inflammation is terrible and then they go into remission and get colonoscopied again and docs tell them there are absolutely no signs of disease and every thing looks completely normal and healthy...just depends on each individual and severity.
Putting an already diseased colon into a healthy person wouldn't heal just cuz the person is healthy, the trauma from it being removed and reconnected (even to a healthy person) would deteriorate the diseased colon further so no, it's not likely the healthy persons immune system would be able to "save" or "heal" the diseased colon and that's why it would likely put their health at risk, possibly become fatal. Doesn't matter though, no doc in their right mind would do such a thing to a person anyway.
Putting an already diseased colon into a healthy person wouldn't heal just cuz the person is healthy, the trauma from it being removed and reconnected (even to a healthy person) would deteriorate the diseased colon further so no, it's not likely the healthy persons immune system would be able to "save" or "heal" the diseased colon and that's why it would likely put their health at risk, possibly become fatal. Doesn't matter though, no doc in their right mind would do such a thing to a person anyway.
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