- David “Davey” Bauer, 34, of Missouri needed a double lung transplant after a severe infection.
- In May, surgeons removed Bauer’s infected lungs and attached an artificial lung to his body. But the medical team had to find a way to keep his heart from collapsing inside the chest cavity.
- At first, surgeons turned to breast implants.
ST. LOUIS (KTVI) — Doctors performed an innovative surgery using breast implants to save the life of a 34-year-old Missouri man who needed a double lung transplant after a severe infection.
When David “Davey” Bauer was 21, he started smoking cigarettes, but switched to vaping in 2014 because he thought it was a better alternative.
Bauer was apparently in good health and enjoyed physical activities such as snowboarding and skateboarding. He also worked a landscaping job in De Soto, Missouri, located about 45 miles south of St. Louis.
In April she started having shortness of breath and caught the flu. Bauer eventually developed a lung infection that was resistant to antibiotics, according to Northwestern Medicine. As his health began to deteriorate, he was admitted to a St. Louis hospital for treatment.
Doctors said the damage to his lungs was so extensive they had to put him on extracorporeal membrane oxygenation, or ECMO. It’s a device that pumps blood throughout the body, allowing the heart and lungs to rest, according to Mayo Clinic.
“Davey’s lungs were so heavily infected that they started to liquefy. If you look at his X-ray, there was nothing left — the lungs were completely filled with pui,” said Rade Tomic, a pulmonologist and medical director of the Northwestern Medicine Canning Thoracic Institute Lung Transplant Program.
Doctors determined the 34-year-old needed a double lung transplant and he was later taken to Northwestern Memorial Hospital.
“When we got a call from Davey’s medical team in St. Louis, we thought we could help him, but it was also very clear that he would not survive the transplant in his current condition,” Tomic said.
In May, surgeons removed Bauer’s infected lungs and attached an artificial lung to his body. But the medical team had to find a way to keep his heart from collapsing inside the chest cavity. That’s where breast implants came into play.
“One of the important things was to keep his heart supported. This was done using DD breast implants,” said Dr. Ankit Bharat, chief of thoracic surgery and director of the Canning Thoracic Institute. “So with that, we could stabilize him and get him to the ICU.”
“What we found was very quickly, his body started clearing the infection,” Bharat added. “He got better quickly and then we were able to report him. And within 24 hours, we received an organ donation, and on May 28, we took him back to the operating room and implanted new lungs.”
The surgery kept blood flowing to his heart and kept his brain and organs working properly. This is the first time a patient has had both lungs removed and temporary breast implants placed in their place, according to the hospital.
“We want to thank our plastic surgeons for giving us a crash course in breast implants,” said Bharat. “We felt that with the lungs removed, we needed something to support his heart, and double-section breast implants were the best fit and, frankly, the largest we could get at the time.”
Bauer, who goes by the nickname “DD Davey,” said he wishes he had stopped vaping sooner and hopes the process can help more patients in the future.
“If I could go back in time, I would never pick up a cigarette or a pen,” he said. “And I hope my story helps others to give up, because I wouldn’t wish this difficult journey on anyone.”
On Wednesday, Bauer and his girlfriend received gifts from the medical team as the first recipient of a more unusual life-saving procedure, a T-shirt bearing his new nickname: DD Davey.
“Oh, it’s unbelievable,” Bauer said. “I have a second chance at life.”
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