rwright@gatech.edu (Ronald K. Wright) (06/06/90)
jeg7e@watt.acc.Virginia.EDU (John E. Gefaell) writes: .... >There was a story that the rolling stones used to deal with heroin addiction >by a method of transfusions.. They'd (it's said) have all their blood replaced >incrementaly during the transfusion, and in so doing, remove the addiction... >then they'd be fresh and ready for a new tour, and new addictions... >Not a pleseant idea, in the least, but it makes you think how applicable >such a treatment would be for AIDS... It relates to the 110 degree treatment >in that it focuses on treating the problem by removing the virus from the >blood... >Whaddya think? Addiction is a problem with the brain, not the blood. We see alcoholic trauma patients who get exchange transfusions quite often. They seem to still be adicted. So are nicotine addicts. As to the hyperthermic treatment of blood, having not tried it, I cant say. However, platlets (the blood clotting guys) dont like anything much and certainly not 110 F so that would be a problem. Second, the red cells are going to be stressed pretty good at that temperature and repeated treatments could well reduce the life expectancy of red cells with the accompanying anemia problems. -- R. K. Wright MD JD | office: uunet!medex2!medexam!rkw Chief Medical Examiner, Broward County | nova: novavax!rwright Associate Professor Pathology | home: uunet!medex2!love1!rkw University of Miami School of Medicine | fax: 305 765 5193