A unified bone bank was established by 11 Department of Health-affiliated hospitals yesterday, which health officials said will help improve the allocation and availability of human bone tissue for use in surgery.
Chen Hsing-yuan (陳興源), an orthopedic surgeon at the Taipei Hospital, said the supply of bone was limited due to traditional beliefs that maintain the importance of leaving corpses whole.
"Even those who are willing to donate their major organs are sometimes unwilling to donate their bones," he told the news conference yesterday.
Estimates reveal that only around 17 percent of organ donors opt to donate their bones.
"We are trying to educate people about how much donated bone can help others," Chen said.
Bone tissue from just one donor can help dozens of patients including those who need bone reconstruction after serious injury, spinal fusion surgery and artificial joint replacements, he said. There is no perfect substitute for human bone for some surgical procedures, he said
Chen used the example of Ms. Hsu (
"If we had put in an artificial joint, she would likely have to deal with the repeated failure of the joint during the course of her life," Chen said. "However, since we used human bone tissue, the repairs were able to knit perfectly with her existing bone and her joint is perfectly sound."
There are artificial joints made out of titanium, he said, but they are very expensive and inferior to human bone tissue.
Family members need not be afraid that the removal of bone will impact the appearance of the body.
"Of course we ensure that the bones are replaced with supporting materials so that the body will appear the same," he said.
Alain Robert, known as the "French Spider-Man," praised Alex Honnold as exceptionally well-prepared after the US climber completed a free solo ascent of Taipei 101 yesterday. Robert said Honnold's ascent of the 508m-tall skyscraper in just more than one-and-a-half hours without using safety ropes or equipment was a remarkable achievement. "This is my life," he said in an interview conducted in French, adding that he liked the feeling of being "on the edge of danger." The 63-year-old Frenchman climbed Taipei 101 using ropes in December 2004, taking about four hours to reach the top. On a one-to-10 scale of difficulty, Robert said Taipei 101
Nipah virus infection is to be officially listed as a category 5 notifiable infectious disease in Taiwan in March, while clinical treatment guidelines are being formulated, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said yesterday. With Nipah infections being reported in other countries and considering its relatively high fatality rate, the centers on Jan. 16 announced that it would be listed as a notifiable infectious disease to bolster the nation’s systematic early warning system and increase public awareness, the CDC said. Bangladesh reported four fatal cases last year in separate districts, with three linked to raw date palm sap consumption, CDC Epidemic Intelligence
Two Taiwanese prosecutors were questioned by Chinese security personnel at their hotel during a trip to China’s Henan Province this month, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said yesterday. The officers had personal information on the prosecutors, including “when they were assigned to their posts, their work locations and job titles,” MAC Deputy Minister and spokesman Liang Wen-chieh (梁文傑) said. On top of asking about their agencies and positions, the officers also questioned the prosecutors about the Cross-Strait Joint Crime-Fighting and Judicial Mutual Assistance Agreement, a pact that serves as the framework for Taiwan-China cooperation on combating crime and providing judicial assistance, Liang
US climber Alex Honnold left Taiwan this morning a day after completing a free-solo ascent of Taipei 101, a feat that drew cheers from onlookers and gained widespread international attention. Honnold yesterday scaled the 101-story skyscraper without a rope or safety harness. The climb — the highest urban free-solo ascent ever attempted — took just more than 90 minutes and was streamed live on Netflix. It was covered by major international news outlets including CNN, the New York Times, the Guardian and the Wall Street Journal. As Honnold prepared to leave Taiwan today, he attracted a crowd when he and his wife, Sanni,
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