4—The Daily Collegian Friday, June 27,1986 Faith Cresswell talks with her husband, Robert, who has been sustained by the Penn State artlfical heart for 104 days now. With the Cresswells is Dr. John Burnside, associate vice president for health affairs at the University’s Hershey Medical Center. Second recipient eligible for donor By KATHI DODSON Collegian Science Writer Robert Cresswell celebrated his 100th day on the Penn State heart last Tuesday. On March 17, Cresswell became the second recipient of the Penn State pneumatic artificial heart after his body rejected a human donor heart he had received seven days earlier. Dr. G. Victor Rohrer, associate dean for patient care at the University’s Hershey Medical Center, said Cresswell remains in critical condition but is eligible for a donor human heart. Cresswell has been on the transplant list since May 12. He was not eligible for a transplant before May 12 because of kidney problems that required daily dialysis. However, some problems have arisen in trying to find a donor heart, Rohrer said. Cresswell weighs between 180 and 190 pounds, so a possible donor’s weight must be within 25 to 30 pounds of Cresswell’s weight, Rohrer said. Cresswell also has an unusually high antibody count, which greatly increases the risk of donor heart reject ion. A very close match must be made between Cresswell’s blood protein and the donor’s. Such a precise match can be very difficult if not impossible, Rohrer said. The high antibody count could be a result of natural allergies or of Cresswell’s previous rejection of a transplanted heart, Rohrer said. “I’m concerned that we can find a suitable heart,” Rohrer said. Howard Nathan, director of the Delaware Valley Transplant Program, an organization which locates transplantable organs for hospitals like Hershey, said: “We’ve never been in this position before. We never had a candidate who was so large or had such a high antibody count before.” Three donor hearts have become available since Cresswell was put on the donor list. However, none of the three were suitable for transplantation into Cres swell’s chest, Nathan said. The length of time Cresswell is sustained on the Penn State heart will not effect his chances for a transplant, Rohrer said. “I don’t know of any reason six months from-now that he wouldn’t be a candidate,” Rohrer said. Howev er,' he added that the longer Cresswell is on the heart, the greater are the chances chronic infection will develop. There is a possiblity that no transplant will be found for Cresswell, “But we aren’t considering that,” Rohr er said, adding that the artifical heart has sustained experimental animals for three times longer than Cresswell has been sustained. Two important steps to getting a job. l * p «r of PSU human The length of time Cresswell has been on the heart should not cause a backlog of cases, Rohrer said. Use of the Penn State heart is an experimental procedure, not a routine operation. If implantation of the artificial heart ever became routine, problems could occur, he said. No one has been denied a heart resulting from the length of time Cresswell has been on the heart, Rohrer said. Other Penn State hearts are available if the need for another artifical heart should arise, he added. Potential candidates for the Penn State heart cannot be screened because of high antibody count or other factors that may make a transplant difficult, Nathan said. “The potential is always there that this patient can survive and you never know if the next donor might'be it,” Nathan said. “One doesn’t have a week to decide if the Penn State heart will be used,” Rohrer added, and screening patients could be very time consuming and difficult. Cresswell’s spirits continue to improve after a period of depression following a stroke he suffered on May 27. Cresswell’s stroke was caused by a blood clot which had formed in the artificial heart. “The longer a patient is on the artificial heart, the greater the opportunity for such an incident to occur,” Rohrer said. As a result of the stroke, Cresswell had difficulty in speaking except to answer questions. However, through daily speech therapy, he has begun to initiate his own speech, Rohrer said. Cresswell is being treated with an anticoagulant to decrease the risk of blood clot formation. However, such treatment could pose a problem when trying to control bleeding during operations and transplants. Rohrer said the specific anticoagulant being used to treat Cresswell Coumadin is easily reversed with other medication in the event that a transplant is found. Cresswell has also developed some drainage prob lems and local infection around one of the tubes in his chest, Rohrer said. “This is natural any time patients have foreign material inside their bodies,” Rohrer said. The tube is used to pump air, which causes the heart to pump blood. Rohrer added that although the blood clot did form in the heart, the pumping mechanism itself has per formed perfectly over the last 100 days. Cresswell continues to ride an exercise bike and to get out of bed a few times a day, Rohrer said. His wife, Faith visits him daily. “She’s a real trooper,” Rohrer said, adding that Faith told him, “It’s time for a miracle to happen, we’re ready for a heart.” . THE • PENNSYLVANIA • STATE • UNIVERSITY BY AUTHORITY OF THE BOARD OF TRUSTEES AND UPON THE RECOMMENDATION OF THE FACULTY AND OF THE SENATE HEREBY CONFERS*UPON RESSIE MAY THEDEGREEOF BACHELOR OF ART IN-RECOGNITION‘OF *THE-COMPLETION* OF-THE-MAJOR-IN GRAPHIC DESIGN IN TESTIMONY WHEREOF THE UNDERSIGNED*HAVE SUBSCRIBED THEIR NAMES*AND*AFFIXED THE SEAL OF THE UNIVERSITY THIS MONTH • OF ■ AUGUST • A • D • 1981 w o* '•« i-:v « heart heart w-ao— cXtjjL 126 Carnegie Building m W J University Park, PA V vL J 863-3215 collegian (production 8:30 a ' m ' to 4:30 p ' m " Monday throuflh Friday Magnesium Pro $79.95 Precision Graphite «go gc reg. $l3O v ' GraP fig e $250 79.95 ■ W °°Ss.7o sB4 - 95 Pro $79.95 reg. $B6 UNBELIEVABLE SAVIN DOUBLE SAVINGS 1. Buy at Low Prices 2. 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Larry Woods, admissions counselor and mi nority recruiter at McKeesport Campus, said yesterday that because the campus, located near Pittsburgh, could not enroll enough stu dents in the program before the estimated mid- April deadline, the program won’t be offered there this summer. Woods said two factors a low number of applicants and a number of applicants who did not meet program requirements contributed to the enrollment shortage. The program offers three credits of free summer coursework to academically talented minority high school juniors or rising seniors who have passed the program’s admission requirements a 950 Scholastic Aptitude Test score and an above-average grade point aver age. “Once they complete the program with an A or B, they have until Summer 1987 to take another course for free,” said Dorian 0. Bur ton, coordinator of minority programs for the College of Human Development. “We would like to have had the program,” Woods said, expressing his disappointment over the lack of students. “The important thing is to give a quality program. We look forward to providing the program next year.” Burton said the program is designed to enhance minority enrollment not just at Uni versity Park, but throughout the entire Penn State system. “When I say minority, I’m talking about Blacks, Hispanics and Native and Asian Amer icans,” Burton said. Penn State, along with Pennsylvania’s other state-owned or state-related schools, is under federal mandate to increase its black student enrollment by 1987. Although the University hoped to enroll 572 first-time black Pennsylvania freshmen this fall, official reports released last week indicate that about 25 percent fewer black Pennsylvania students have accepted admission offers this year as compared to last year. The University earlier announced plans to provide the MAPP program at the Ogontz and Delaware County campuses near Philadelphia, which participated last summer, and four new campuses. (expires 7/3/86) OFF with this coupon on services of s lO or more Not valid in combination with any other discount offer EXPIRES JULY 15, 1986 B