Temporal Bone Registry — Sign Up to Help Research for a Cure

Yeah... do you have to live in the United States to qualify? Maybe there is something similar in other countries?

So what's unique about this? Targeted organ donation to targeted research? You donate your temporal bone, your cochlea and your balance organ to research labs that do research on pathologies in these organs?

How do they collect these organs? Is your dead body sent to them and they pick what they want and then return the rest? I know it sounds horrible, as if it's a dinner party where you get to pick what you want and throw the rests to the dogs. I don't mean it like that. I just wonder how they orchestrate all this logistically. On that note, I recently read that progenitor cells in mice cochlea can survive postmortem in about 5 days. So is time an issue?

I see logos of Massachusetts Eye and Ear, Harvard Medical School, and NIH NIDCD (too long to care to spell it out). What if I want my cochlea to go to Stefan Heller and his research team at Stanford? How does that work out? Not at all?

Regardless who gets it, I can think of donating my organs. But unless I move to the US, I don't think my organs will be going to either Harvard or Stanford anytime soon. Maybe that's a flaw? Maybe we should exchange organs across borders? As long as someone, some lab, in some country gets the job done and actually finds a definite cure.

 

I just checked. They ask for City, State and Zip. So it's a US thing only. The form is not that long or complicated.

 

Yeah, I don't think there are many countries who have targeted donation programs like this. Donations in general, yes, but not something like this.

Seriously? No inner ear research? I'm surprised... Are there no hearing impaired people in Brazil? Maybe the the government is not interested because it's not a big national health problem yet?

Kudos to you! Let's hope it doesn't come to that for a long time. But if it does, you know it might save someone's life.

Who are "they"? The doctor and his team? Is this doc doing the research in Brazil or US?

Indeed!

But maybe there is a way to save more of the organs? Maybe someone needs a kidney? Let them have it, let everyone take what they need. Which brings on the question, what's so special about this US donation program for cochlea?

I mean, can't we have someone just donate the whole body, and let everyone take what they need, be it research or transplantation? Why does it matter? Why have targeted cochlea donations? What's so special about that? Is this because human cochleas are being wasted in the world? No one wants them so they leave them as left overs and burn or bury them along with the remains of the body?

This brings on another question. Is there such thing as cochlea transplantation? I know it sounds stupid, because everyone has a unique shape of head bones and all that. But if they could make it work that would be wonderful. Maybe this is something worth looking into? How unique are our cochleas? Can they be transplanted? That's what I would like to know.

I don't expect you to answer all these questions. They are mostly rhetorical.