UKPASTUDENT

Some causes of haemoptysis. Divided into haematological (red), infectious (green) and malignant (purple) causes. 

How a human lung is kept alive and breathing for a transplant

Lung in a box. Very cool.

To extend the time an organ can last before it’s transplanted into a recipient, engineers have developed the Organ Care System — which is essentially a box pumping blood and oxygen to the lung.   

As Gizmodo explains: 

What’s especially neat about the OCS is that they can actually be used to improve imperfect donor lungs by flushing it with antibiotics and nutrients. Like refurbishing a lung, sort of. Putting donor lungs through the OCS helps increase and improve the number of potential donor lungs. Not every donor lung is usable, donor lungs that go through the OCS may be.

Learn more about lung transplants at Al Jazeera America. 

Natural Killer Cell attacking cancer cell.

A very happy PA week to all of my amazing PA colleagues!! May you find this profession as rewarding as I have all these 30 years  — I have been SO blessed to have met such a wonderful segment of human society who share ideals, compassion, energy, empathy and sympathy for their fellow man, working long crazy hours for the small rewards that make it all worthwhile.