King of pop might drop

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Health Highlights: Dec. 22, 2008

Monday, December 22, 2008; 12:00 AM

Here are some of the latest health and medical news developments, compiled by editors of HealthDay:

Said to Need Lung Transplant

, the self-proclaimed King of Pop, needs a lung transplant because he's suffering from a rare respiratory condition, according to the author of a new Jackson biography.

Author Ian Halperin told In Touch magazine and Britain's Sunday Express newspaper that the reclusive performer may even be fighting for his life, the Houston Chronicle newspaper reported on its Web site.

Halperin said Jackson has been diagnosed with Alpha 1-antitrypsin deficiency, an occasionally fatal genetic condition.

"He's had it for years, but it's gotten worse,'' Halperin told In Touch. "He needs a lung transplant but may be too weak to go through with it. He also has emphysema and chronic gastrointestinal bleeding, which his doctors have had a lot of trouble stopping. It's the bleeding that is the most problematic part. It could kill him,'' according to the Chronicle.

Jackson "can barely speak" and "the vision in his left eye is 95 percent gone," Halperin said.

Jackson's spokesman was unavailable for comment Sunday. But the singer's brother Jermaine didn't deny the reports, telling Fox News, "He's not doing so well right now. This isn't a good time," the Chronicle reported.

Dr. Len Horovitz, a pulmonary specialist at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City, treated Jackson at Lenox Hill in 1999.

"Alpha-1-anti-trypsin deficiency is a relatively rare genetic disorder that becomes apparent in young adulthood and early middle age, especially if smoking is added to the equation," Horovitz said in a hospital news release. "The liver can also be affected, causing cirrhosis. The disease produces an early-onset emphysema, just as one might see in an older smoker. Treatment for mild or moderate cases involves infusions of a specific medication. In advanced stages, a lung transplant may be necessary.

"Since this is a genetic disorder, other members of the Jackson family must be tested for this genetic variant," Horovitz added.

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