Heart Patient Shows Mild Signs of Rejection
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TUCSON — Michael Drummond, who received a human heart after being kept alive by an artificial heart for nine days, is showing mild signs of rejecting the organ, hospital officials said Saturday.
The episode is considered normal, and doctors had said that they expected any signs of rejection to show up late last week.
Drummond, 25, received a Jarvik-7 artificial heart Aug. 29 and got the heart of an accident victim Sept. 7.
Doctors prescribed an anti-rejection drug, which was expected to bring the rejection under control, said University Medical Center spokeswoman Nina Trasoff.
Heart transplant patients typically undergo a number of rejection periods that must be controlled with medication.
“It’s being termed a mild episode,” Trasoff said.
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