Ping Pong ball, a life saver!!
Surgeon uses ping pong ball in pioneering liver operation
Kate Sikora
September 24, 2008 12:00am
IN a world-first, a ping pong ball is keeping liver transplant toddler Mackenzie Argaet alive.
The $2 ball prevents Mackenzie's new liver crushing nearby arteries, which could kill the two-year-old.
Surgeon Dr Albert Shun made the world-first breakthrough at Sydney's Westmead Hospital after reading about ping pong balls being used in non-transplant operations overseas.
Mackenzie's parents, Letice Darswell and Guy Argaet, were surprised by the move but are thrilled their feisty daughter is well again.
"We didn't get told about the ping pong ball until after the operation," Ms Darswell said.
"It was a shock when (Dr Shun) came out of surgery," the Canberra woman said.
Dr Shun decided to test the ball's ability in transplants earlier this year when he discovered that Mackenzie's new liver was too big for her.
"I rang my wife and asked her to go to Big W and buy me some ping pong balls," the Sydney surgeon said.
"I was using a sponge as a back-up but there was no way I could close her up the way it was.
"She is the first (transplant patient) in the world that the ping pong balls have been used for these purposes."
Unaware she has a ping pong ball inside her, Mackenzie is now running around like other two-year-olds.
She had been seriously ill since being born with biliary atresia, a rare gastrointestinal disorder that destroys the bile ducts that carry bile from the liver to the intestine.
Mackenzie's liver became so severely scarred she began to develop cirrhosis and needed a transplant.
Most people were shocked when they heard Mackenzie had a ping pong ball inside.
"But she is so normal now. She is a happy kid," her mother said.
"She is playing with her brother Lachlan and learning to ride a bike, something she wasn't able to do before."
After the ping pong ball's success with Mackenzie, Dr Shun has put ping pong balls in several other patients.
In those he removed them after a few days when swelling had reduced.
But Mackenzie should have her ball for life. Her liver will grow around it.
"There shouldn't be any complications," Dr Shun said.
"We are in a unique situation in Australia because we have a low donor rate, so we have to be adaptable."
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man, this is some genius surgeon :D :thumbsup:. I'm quite surprised how his brain works and how can such people come up with some simple but revolutionary ideas! shit is crazy
