Doctors use breast implants to save man who needed double lung transplant after vaping

Doctors saved the life of a man with the help of double-D breast implants.

A 34-year-old man who had vaped for almost 10 years was rushed to hospital after he caught the flu.

A team of medical professionals at the Canning Thoracic Institute in Chicago had to think 'creatively' to treat landscaper Davey Bauer and ultimately, with a mixture of extreme skill and some breast implants, saved his life.

Bauer had been in good health for years - not only active in his landscaping job but a skateboarder and snowboarder too - before he contracted the illness.

Feeling unwell, he went to hospital and was told he had pneumonia, given a 'Z-pack' - 'an antibiotic used to treat bacterial infections by inhibiting the growth of bacteria in the body', according to Drug Watch - and told to go home.

However, the next day his condition began to deteriorate rapidly.

CNN

Bauer's girlfriend rushed him to hospital and doctors realized he'd contracted a strain of Pseudomonas - a bacterial infection.

As a result of just how bad the infection had become - the bacteria becoming more resistant and left unable to be treated with antibiotics - Bauer went into cardiac arrest and his heart 'stopped,' as per CNN.

Chief of Thoracic Surgery and Director, Dr Ankit Bharat, and the rest of the team had to think fast in order to save Bauer's life, performing surgery to remove both his lungs, but they didn't have immediate access to a donor pair of lungs so had to get 'creative,' using double-D breast implants to help keep the patient's heart structurally stable and pumping, fighting off the infection.

Dr Bharat told People: "We had to get a crash court [in implants]. The breast implant is a flashy thing, but to be honest with you, probably from a medical standpoint, was a minor part of the whole thing. Because it was mostly used to just temporarily stabilize the heart.

"[...] This is the only way we could logically create a solution that may give the patient a fighting chance."

CNN

Before the surgery, Bauer's lungs were 'completely damaged' but he woke up 'with new lungs'.

Dr Bharat said: "It was kind of almost magical to see when we took out all of the old lungs… within a matter of hours, his body started to show signs of healing and recovery. His heart started to get stronger without all the bacteria."

Bauer may look back on the situation with the breast implants as 'hilarious' but ultimately, he now knows 'how stupid of a habit' his vaping was, with Dr Bharat noting he thinks 'vaping played a big part' in how sick the patient got.

Dr Bharat told CNN: "All these risk factors aligned: compromised lung health with the cigarettes and the vaping, not being vaccinated against the influenza and then you have infection. Everything aligns, and then you’re set up for a major disaster."

Bauer resolved he's '100 percent behind' giving up vaping and reflected: "I feel more like myself than I have since this all began."

Dr Baharat added: "He’s on track for full recovery, and it’s kind of really amazing for us to see."

Topics: Health, Science, US News, World News, Vaping

Poppy Bilderbeck

Poppy Bilderbeck is a Senior Journalist at LADbible Group. She graduated from The University of Manchester in 2021 with a First in English Literature and Drama, where alongside her studies she was Editor-in-Chief of The Tab Manchester. Poppy is most comfortable when chatting about all things mental health, is proving a drama degree is far from useless by watching and reviewing as many TV shows and films as possible and is such a crisp fanatic the office has been forced to release them in batches.