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This young man volunteered to undergo the procedure even though he didn't have to.
Proving this works paves the way for surgeries where general anesthesia isn't an option for whatever reason.
They gave him a spinal epidural, let him pick the music, and got started on surgery.
My uncle's pushing seventy and had a hip replacement he described like a magic act.
It's great that general anesthesia is becoming optional, but frankly, I'd rather be under in both cases.
what if the patient decides, for whatever reasons, they want to stop mid way?
This young man volunteered to undergo the procedure even though he didn't have to.
It's not like he got a kidney transplant for funsies. He needed a kidney transplant. He just didn't need to be awake for it.
Nicolas was first diagnosed with chronic kidney disease during high school in 2013. After moving to Chicago in 2022, his kidney function had deteriorated and doctors at Northwestern told him he needed to get a transplant.
The Northwestern team picked him as a candidate for the awake transplant because he was young, otherwise healthy and also willing to go ahead with it.
What is the benefit?
In some cases general anaesthesia isn't possible, or carries more risk, so this might open up new opportunities. Here is a bit from the article:
"Now that John’s broken the ceiling, we can offer it to patients who have lung disease, or are older or have heart disease that may pose a higher risk for general anesthesia to make a recovery for them much safer,” Nadig said.