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American Morning
Transplant Girl
Aired February 20, 2003 - 09:09 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: Let's check in with Sanjay Gupta now, who joins us from Kuwait City. We've been reporting this morning that 17-year-old Jesica Santillan is now undergoing a second transplant operation on which her life depends. We were told the surgery began about 5:30 this morning. The family says they are very grateful for all the help they're getting to try to save Jessica's life, who they describe as a very sick little girl.
Sanjay, they also said they were told that she wasn't bumped up on the donor reception list, and they were not told that the organs were specifically identified for her. She just happened to be part of that rotation, but after what happened to her, I guess this chance of a miracle a darn good thing.
Walk us through the risks of what she faces.
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Right, well, I'll tell you, the sort of condition that she had originally was where the heart was failing to the point where blood was actually backing up into the lungs.
So you have your heart failing already, and because the heart's failing, the lungs start to fail as well, and that's why people need oftentimes need a heart and lung transplant altogether.
So obviously, even back before February 7th, that was the day of the first operation, she was very sick, requiring ventilation system, machines essentially to try to keep her alive. We have heard so much now about the fact that the first transplant being the wrong blood type, literally even before she left the operating room after the first operation, her body starting to reject those organs, still needing the machines and becoming more critically ill than she was before the first operation. Fast forward, a second operation, organs have been found that are compatible, and there's a lot of different factors, you I were talking about, Paula, they're Compatible, they have the right size, and they come from a healthy donor.
All of those things really important in terms of making this operation a success.
Paula, we talked a little bit earlier as well about the fact that it's a second operation. Does that present new risks compared to the first operation? It probably does. One of the biggest risks is that she is sicker than she was before, and just all the different factors go into that. A critically ill person responds to anesthesia differently. There are other organs besides the heart and lungs also respond differently. So it's sort of a balancing act in terms of making sure someone is literally healthy enough to go into the operating room, which is sort of paradoxical, because often it's the critically ill that need these operations. A lot of different factors to consider there, Paula. They're saying about a 50/50 chance. The operation itself may go a little bit more quickly know that the first operation because it was so recent, but it's going to be a real waiting game for the next several hours.
ZAHN: That's interesting, Sanjay. The family spokesperson said that the operation could last as long as six hours today, and he said although a great mistake was made the last time around, that he did not question the skills of the surgeon this time around. That's kind of a hard thing for the family to say, isn't it?
GUPTA: It really is, Paula. It's very difficult story for me to even talk about. It probably was a human error that led to this disaster, really, back on February 7th. She's an O-blood type. The organ that she got is an A-blood type. It's possible, I was talking to some transplant surgeons earlier this morning, it's possible that she may have been on the wrong list the entire time. Typical protocol is that when those organs arrive at the hospital where the recipient is located, the organs are retyped, meaning that they're again, tested if they're a, b, or o, in terms of their blood type. Don't know if that was done, or if there was a mistake made there. Regardless, she got wrong organs. These new organs are absolutely essential for her to survive -- Paula.
ZAHN: Sanjay thank you for educating us this morning. Appreciate it.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Aired February 20, 2003 - 09:09 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: Let's check in with Sanjay Gupta now, who joins us from Kuwait City. We've been reporting this morning that 17-year-old Jesica Santillan is now undergoing a second transplant operation on which her life depends. We were told the surgery began about 5:30 this morning. The family says they are very grateful for all the help they're getting to try to save Jessica's life, who they describe as a very sick little girl.
Sanjay, they also said they were told that she wasn't bumped up on the donor reception list, and they were not told that the organs were specifically identified for her. She just happened to be part of that rotation, but after what happened to her, I guess this chance of a miracle a darn good thing.
Walk us through the risks of what she faces.
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Right, well, I'll tell you, the sort of condition that she had originally was where the heart was failing to the point where blood was actually backing up into the lungs.
So you have your heart failing already, and because the heart's failing, the lungs start to fail as well, and that's why people need oftentimes need a heart and lung transplant altogether.
So obviously, even back before February 7th, that was the day of the first operation, she was very sick, requiring ventilation system, machines essentially to try to keep her alive. We have heard so much now about the fact that the first transplant being the wrong blood type, literally even before she left the operating room after the first operation, her body starting to reject those organs, still needing the machines and becoming more critically ill than she was before the first operation. Fast forward, a second operation, organs have been found that are compatible, and there's a lot of different factors, you I were talking about, Paula, they're Compatible, they have the right size, and they come from a healthy donor.
All of those things really important in terms of making this operation a success.
Paula, we talked a little bit earlier as well about the fact that it's a second operation. Does that present new risks compared to the first operation? It probably does. One of the biggest risks is that she is sicker than she was before, and just all the different factors go into that. A critically ill person responds to anesthesia differently. There are other organs besides the heart and lungs also respond differently. So it's sort of a balancing act in terms of making sure someone is literally healthy enough to go into the operating room, which is sort of paradoxical, because often it's the critically ill that need these operations. A lot of different factors to consider there, Paula. They're saying about a 50/50 chance. The operation itself may go a little bit more quickly know that the first operation because it was so recent, but it's going to be a real waiting game for the next several hours.
ZAHN: That's interesting, Sanjay. The family spokesperson said that the operation could last as long as six hours today, and he said although a great mistake was made the last time around, that he did not question the skills of the surgeon this time around. That's kind of a hard thing for the family to say, isn't it?
GUPTA: It really is, Paula. It's very difficult story for me to even talk about. It probably was a human error that led to this disaster, really, back on February 7th. She's an O-blood type. The organ that she got is an A-blood type. It's possible, I was talking to some transplant surgeons earlier this morning, it's possible that she may have been on the wrong list the entire time. Typical protocol is that when those organs arrive at the hospital where the recipient is located, the organs are retyped, meaning that they're again, tested if they're a, b, or o, in terms of their blood type. Don't know if that was done, or if there was a mistake made there. Regardless, she got wrong organs. These new organs are absolutely essential for her to survive -- Paula.
ZAHN: Sanjay thank you for educating us this morning. Appreciate it.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
