A Missouri man who suffered from lung failure after vaping for 10 years has survived, thanks to a temporary pair of double-D breast implants.
Davey Bauer, 34, switched from smoking to e-cigarettes in 2014 because he thought it was “the healthier alternative,” but later found it “more addictive than cigarettes.”
In April, his lungs failed, which doctors attributed to his habit of swallowing bullets every day after he contracted the flu and an additional antibiotic-resistant lung infection.
Mr. Bauer’s lungs were so badly damaged that doctors in St. Louis decided his best hope was a double lung transplant.
He was transferred to Northwestern Memorial Hospital in Chicago, where he soon went into cardiac arrest due to the infection.
Mr. Bauer’s surgeon, Dr. Ankit Bharat, director of the Canning Thoracic Institute at Northwestern, said his patient didn’t have time for a transplant at the time.
As a “last-ditch effort”, the team removed Mr Bauer’s lungs and fitted him with a temporary pair of double-D breast implants to hold his heart in place.
Davey Bauer, 34, felt like he couldn’t catch his breath in April. After smoking for 10 years, he contracted the flu, causing his lung function to rapidly deteriorate
Mr. Bauer suffered lung failure and couldn’t wait long enough for a pair of donor lungs. Doctors gave him temporary breast implants to hold his heart in place and maintain blood flow while he waited for a transplant
“Someone who is actively dying and was as sick as David generally has no option for a transplant and generally just dies,” Dr. Bharat told CNN. “We had to develop a strategy to do something we had never done before.”
Because while they waited for the infection to clear and a pair of donor lungs to arrive, Dr. Bharat’s team figured out how to keep the blood flowing.
The heart and lungs work together because the circulatory system, which consists of the heart and blood vessels, transports blood to the lungs.
Without a pair of lungs, there is no path for blood to flow.
The team created artificial channels using an extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) machine that pumps blood out of the body, sends it through devices that remove oxygen and carbon dioxide, and pumps it back into the body.
However, in order to move blood through Mr. Bauer’s body, doctors had to figure out how to hold the heart in place.
The breast implants managed to keep the heart going until a pair of donor lungs became available the next day.
Mr. Bauer’s breast implants were then replaced with new lungs.
Dr. Bharat said Mr Bauer was “on the road to a full recovery”. According to his GoFundMe page, he was able to breathe completely on his own with the new lungs in June.
Mr. Bauer is on the road to a full recovery and will remain in a Chicago rehabilitation facility for at least the next 18 months
He has since been moved to a rehabilitation facility in Chicago, where he and his girlfriend Susan will remain for the next 18 months.
Mr. Bauer had switched from vaping to cigarettes because he thought it was healthier, but later found it “more addictive than cigarettes,” he told CNN. He smoked one cartridge a day, which was equivalent to a pack of cigarettes in terms of nicotine content.
“In my personal opinion, vaping played a large role in how sick Davey became because he is otherwise young and healthy,” said Dr. Bharat
“The lungs are designed to breathe clean air. They are not intended for smoke inhalation.’
While e-cigarettes are generally considered safer than regular cigarettes, increasing evidence shows that vaping is still extremely harmful.
Earlier this year, the American Heart Association (AHA) warned that the cocktail of nicotine, thickeners, solvents and flavors in e-cigarettes poses a greater risk to heart health than smoking cigarettes.
Long-term exposure to diacetyl and acetylpropionyl, two flavoring additives, are associated with shortness of breath, chronic cough, asthma and congested airways.
Experts also warn against second-hand vaping.
Scientists from universities in Virginia and North Carolina reported that when e-cigarette users used less than Small people puffed in their cars for ten minutes).
PM2.5 can be produced from natural and man-made sources such as burning fossil fuels. When inhaled, the substance enters the lungs and irritates the entire respiratory system, potentially causing or worsening asthma, bronchitis, and severe wheezing.
The matter is so small that it could enter the bloodstream, causing system-wide inflammation that increases the risk to cardiovascular health.
E-cigarettes that do not contain nicotine can also cause “e-cigarette or vapor product use-related lung injury,” or EVALI.
The exact cause of the injury is still not fully understood, but researchers have now focused on the compound vitamin E acetate, which is often used as a thickening agent in illegal cannabis vape devices.
There is no test to determine whether someone has EVALI, so the diagnosis is based on symptoms that include shortness of breath, fever, chills, cough, vomiting, diarrhea, headache, dizziness, fast heartbeat and chest pain, according to the American Lung Association (ALA ).
EVALI has caused some harrowing health scares. A 34-year-old Ohio woman who used about eight cartridges of e-cigarette liquid each week, equivalent to 50 cigarettes a day, was placed on life support within 24 hours of going to the emergency room because of breathing difficulties.
In another frightening case, a 20-year-old woman from the UK named Abby Flynn developed a rare lung disease called “popcorn lung.” Doctors warned that she could need an oxygen machine before she turns 30.
Federal data suggests that about 14 percent – over 2.5 million – of American youth from 6th to 12th grade smoke e-cigarettes, while another study reported that 17 million American adults use e-cigarettes. To smoke cigarettes. In comparison, it is only one in ten tobacco smokers.