While seemingly rare, It's not an unheard-of phenomenon. Some researchers believe it may be possible for donor organs to hold and even pass on the characteristics and experiences of its original owner onto the new recipient, via a process known as cellular memory.
Only a small percentage of heart transplant recipients report personality changes. Characteristics of those describing personality changes attributed to the donor include: environmentally sensitive, sensual, animal loving, music loving, creative and the type to be inclined to go with the flow rather than dominate.
The theory of cellular memories states that memories, as well as personality traits, are not only stored in the brain but may also be stored in organs such as the heart.
Memories from the donor's life are hypothesized to be stored in the cells of the donated heart and are then “remembered” by the recipient following transplant surgery.
Conclusions. Recipients suffered from a higher level of depression and somatic concerns than donors before living kidney transplantation. Psychological problems like depression and anxiety can occur in both living kidney transplantation donors and recipients.
Background. About 50% of the patients 5–7 years after kidney transplantation show impairment of memory, attention and executive function. Tacrolimus frequently induces neurological complications in the first few weeks after transplantation.
Chronic Rejection
This is the most common reason that kidney transplants fail. It is the long-term damage done by the body's immune system for a lot of different reasons. It is important to realize that transplant patients have NO CONTROL over most of these causes of transplant failure.
Unfortunately not: the genetic instruction in the cells of any organ stays the same after being transplanted. That means the donated organ is always seen as a foreign 'invader' by the recipient's disease-fighting immune system.
Heart transplant surgery will be done while you are in a deep asleep (under general anesthesia). Once you are asleep, a breathing tube will be put through your mouth into your lungs. The tube will be attached to a machine (ventilator) that will breathe for you during the surgery.
Most heart transplants are done with a method called orthotopic surgery, where most of your heart is removed but the back half of both upper chambers, called atria, are left in place. Then the front half of the donor heart is sewn to the back half of the old heart.
Fifteen per cent stated that their personality had indeed changed, but not because of the donor organ, but due to the life-threatening event. Six per cent (three patients) reported a distinct change of personality due to their new hearts.
For explicit memories – which are about events that happened to you (episodic), as well as general facts and information (semantic) – there are three important areas of the brain: the hippocampus, the neocortex and the amygdala. Implicit memories, such as motor memories, rely on the basal ganglia and cerebellum.
The deadpan answer to this question would be, “No, your brain is almost certainly not full.” Although there must be a physical limit to how many memories we can store, it is extremely large. We don't have to worry about running out of space in our lifetime.
Lungs are the most difficult organ to transplant because they are highly susceptible to infections in the late stages of the donor's life. They can sustain damage during the process of recovering them from the donor or collapse after surgeons begin to ventilate them after transplant.
“Where extracorporeal machines or transplantation can support or replace the function of organs such as the heart, lung, liver or kidney, the brain is the only organ that cannot be supported or replaced by medical technology.”
In heart transplants, the rate of organ rejection and patient mortality are the highest, even though the transplants are monitored by regular biopsies. Specifically, some 40% of heart recipients experience some type of severe rejection within one year of their transplant.
Generally, most patients do not report a lot of pain after heart transplant surgery. The incision does cause pain or discomfort when you cough. We will give you pain medication and specific instructions to lessen the pain.
While transplanted organs can last the rest of your life, many don't. Some of the reasons may be beyond your control: low-grade inflammation from the transplant could wear on the organ, or a persisting disease or condition could do to the new organ what it did to the previous one.
Lung - 4 to 6 hours. Heart - 4 hours. Liver - 24 hours. Pancreas - 24 hours.
In general, normal growth following solid organ transplantation should be an achievable goal that results in normal adult height.
But for the donor, organ donation can expose a healthy person to the risk of and recovery from unnecessary major surgery. Immediate, surgery-related risks of organ donation include pain, infection, hernia, bleeding, blood clots, wound complications and, in rare cases, death.
No religion forbid this practice. Directed organ donation to people of the same religion has been proposed only by some Orthodox Jews and some Islamic Ulemas/Muftis. Only some Muslim Ulemas/Muftis and some Asian religions may prefer living donation over cadaveric donation.
Kidney transplantation surgery is relatively noninvasive with the organ being placed on the inguinal fossa without the need to breech the peritoneal cavity. If all goes smoothly, the kidney recipient can expect to be discharged from the hospital in excellent condition after five days.
A living donor kidney functions, on average, 12 to 20 years, and a deceased donor kidney from 8 to 12 years. Patients who get a kidney transplant before dialysis live an average of 10 to 15 years longer than if they stayed on dialysis.
Regularly drinking alcohol above the maximum recommended limits can raise your blood pressure, which can be dangerous for people with a kidney transplant. To keep your risk of alcohol-related harm low, the NHS recommends: not drinking more than 14 units of alcohol a week.