Breast implants used in lifesaving surgery after lungs removed from man’s body
Surgeons have given a man suffering from a debilitating lung condition a new lease of life by using breast implants in an unprecedented procedure.
After Davey Bauer from Missouri caught the flu a few months ago, he developed a lung infection that was resistant to antibiotics.
He had a prolonged history of smoking and vaping.
A standard lung transplant would have been fruitless as Mr Bauer wouldn’t have survived the surgery if doctors replaced his pus-filled lungs with healthy ones straight away.
Instead, the 34-year-old was put on a ventilator in a medically induced coma to support his breathing, but his condition continued to deteriorate.
He was transferred to Northwestern Hospital in Chicago where surgeons undertook rare surgery on Mr Bauer.
They removed both of his lungs and used a life-support device called extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) to keep him alive while the infection cleared from his bloodstream.
The problem now lay with the patient’s heart. Without the lungs as support, the organ would either move around or slip deeper into his chest cavity.
“Once we took the lungs out, we realised that now we’ve got to support the heart,” Mr Bauer’s surgeon, Dr Ankit Bharat, chief of thoracic surgery at the hospital, said.
The solution was a pair of Double-D breast implants.
“We were looking for the biggest thing that would fit in there in his chest cavity,” Dr Bharat added.
The implants kept Mr Bauer’s heart in place and his infection was soon cleared.
Two days later the props were removed and surgeons successfully transplanted healthy lungs from a donor into his body.
According to the hospital, it is the first time breast implants have been used in a double lung transplant.
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Commenting on the unusual procedure, Mr Bauer said: “I didn’t know much of it until after the fact, but I thought that was awesome and kind of funny.”
“I feel so blessed. It’s incredible,” he added. “I got a second chance at life.”
Pic: NM Media Relations
He was discharged from the hospital in September and is currently being monitored by his transplant team.
He is expected to make a full recovery.
Meanwhile, his partner, Susan Gore, was bewildered by the entire procedure.
“It still blows my mind that he didn’t have lungs in his body but he was still alive,” she said.
Keeping a patient alive without lungs is incredibly rare and requires a great deal of expertise, but it’s not entirely new, said Dr John Michael Reynolds, a transplant pulmonologist not involved in this surgery.
“They put these implants in, that’s the eye-grabbing thing,” he said. “But that’s a very minor aspect of what was done.”
His team at Duke University Hospital kept a patient with cystic fibrosis alive without any lungs using artificial oxygen support. He underwent a double lung transplant six days later and recovered.
And a baby girl from Brighton was the youngest person in the UK to receive a double lung transplant. Imogen Bolton was just five-and-a-half months old when she had the life-saving operation in 2016, and attended her first day of school in 2020.
Donald Trump has waded into the debate surrounding Sydney Sweeney’s jeans ad.
The American Eagle ad, which features the 27-year-old actress, who starred in the HBO series Euphoria and White Lotus, has the tagline “Sydney Sweeney has great jeans”.
It has sparked a debate in the US over race and Western beauty standards.
One of the Sydney Sweeney jeans ads. Pic: AP
In a Truth Social post, the US president described it as the “hottest ad out there”.
Hailing Sweeney as a “registered Republican”, he said the jeans are “flying off the shelves”, adding: “Go get ’em Sydney!”
Most of the criticism of the ad has centred on videos using the word “genes” instead of “jeans”, with one in which Sweeney says: “Genes are passed down from parents to offspring, often determining traits like hair colour, personality and even eye colour. My jeans are blue.”
Critics argued the play on words potentially promotes eugenics, a discredited theory that believed humanity could be improved through the selective breeding of certain traits.
But others have defended the ad, saying the critics are reading too much into its message.
The video appeared on American Eagle’s Facebook page and other social media channels, but is not part of the ad campaign.
In a statement on Instagram on Friday, American Eagle Outfitters said the campaign “is and always was about the jeans. Her jeans. Her story. We’ll continue to celebrate how everyone wears their AE jeans with confidence, their way. Great jeans look good on everyone.”
Stocks in American Eagle Outfitters jumped by 23.3% after Mr Trump’s intervention.
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In his Truth Social post, which he reposted three times to fix various typos, Mr Trump compared the ad with “woke” ones “on the other side of the ledger” – as he criticised other companies, as well as hitting out at Taylor Swift.
“The tide has seriously turned – Being WOKE is for losers, being Republican is what you want to be,” he wrote.
Sky News has contacted Sweeney’s agent for comment.
Police in Tennessee have discovered 14 improvised explosive devices in a man’s home as they were arresting him, the local sheriff’s office said.
Officers were executing a warrant in the home of Kevin Wade O’Neal in Old Fort, about 45 miles (70km) east of Chattanooga, after he had threatened to kill public officials and law enforcement personnel in Polk County.
After arresting the 54-year-old, officers noticed “something smouldering” in the bedroom where he was found.
Kevin Wade O’Neal. Pic: Polk County Sheriff’s Office
On closer inspection, they discovered an improvised explosive device and evacuated the house until bomb squad officers arrived at the scene.
Fourteen devices were found inside the property – none of which detonated.
Improvised explosive devices were found in Kevin Wade O’Neal’s home. Pic: Polk County Sheriff’s Office
Kevin Wade O’Neal’s home in Old Fort, Tennessee. Pic: Polk County Sheriff’s Office
O’Neal was charged with 11 counts of attempted first-degree murder, corresponding to nine officers and two other people inside the property when the suspect tried to detonate the devices.
He also faces 14 counts of prohibited weapons and one count of possession of explosive components.
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O’Neal is being held at the Polk County jail and his bond is yet to be determined.
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