Transplanted Gland

The harder doctors have tried to trans plant glands from one person to another, the more they have become convinced that their best chance is with the swift-growing tissues from an embryo or a very young baby. Last week Surgeon Julian A. Sterling of Philadelphia's Albert Einstein Medical Center reported that he had put this theory into practice and transplanted an entire thyroid gland, with its four tiny parathyroids attached, from an infant to an adult, and that the graft had worked well for five months. It was, he believed, the first case of its kind.

Irma Marie Miller, 29, a waitress, had spent the last ten years in the shadow of the hospital. Her thyroid and parathyroids had been removed for fear of a fatal dis ease. She needed daily doses of thyroid extract. And to make up for the loss of the parathyroids, which control the body's use of calcium, she had to visit the hospital four times a day. on the average, for injections of calcium to save her from muscular spasms which might have choked her to death.

Dr. Sterling waited a long time to find a suitable donor for the glands. Last fall, a baby was born so malformed that he could not long survive. His parents agreed that if he could not be saved, his thyroid gland should not be wasted. In his fourth week, the baby died. Within minutes, his thyroid and parathyroids were removed, with about an inch of each of the four main blood vessels attached. The operating room was got ready for Irma Miller, and, as soon as she arrived for an injection, she was whisked to the table. The surgeons decided to insert the baby's thyroid in her groin (instead of its usual place in the neck), because the blood vessels are the right size and the site is protected from accidental pressure. They cut four of her blood vessels, and stitched the ends to the stubs of the gland's vessels.

Ten days later, and again after four months, tests with a tiny dose of radioactive iodine and a Geiger counter showed that the oddly placed thyroid was functioning. Irma Miller has needed no more thyroid extract or calcium injections. She is going to be married, and Dr. Sterling is going to give the bride away.

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