A team of American surgeons successfully transplanted the heart from a genetically modified pig to a human; a world first, the University Maryland Medical School reported.
The operation was carried out on Friday and demonstrated for the first time that an animal’s heart can continue to beat in a human being without immediate rejection, it explained in a statement.
The patient, David Bennett, was unfit for a human transplant.
The 57-year-old Maryland resident is under medical surveillance to determine how the new organ is working.
“It was either dying or undergoing this transplant. I want to live. I know it’s a shot in the dark, but it’s my last option, ”he said the day before the surgery.
Bennett, who has spent the last few months bedridden with a life support machine, added: “I look forward to getting out of bed once I have recovered.”
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) granted an emergency clearance for surgery on New Year’s Eve, as the last chance for a patient who was not suitable for a conventional transplant.
“This was revolutionary surgery and it brings us one step closer to solving the organ shortage crisis,” said Bartley Griffith, who transplanted the pig heart.
“We are proceeding with caution, but we are also optimistic that this first surgical operation in the world will provide an important new option for patients in the future,” he added.
The donor pig belonged to a herd that had undergone a genetic modification procedure to remove a gene that produces a sugar that would have triggered a strong immune response and caused rejection of the organ.
The modification was carried out by the biotech company Revivicor, which also supplied the pig used in an innovative kidney transplant in a brain-dead patient in New York in October.
The donated organ remained in a machine to preserve it before surgery, and the team also used a new drug along with other conventional anti-rejection drugs to suppress the immune system and prevent it from rejecting the organ.
It is an experimental compound manufactured by Kiniksa Pharmaceuticals.
About 110,000 Americans are currently waiting for an organ transplant, and more than 6,000 patients die each year before receiving one, according to official figures.
To meet the demand, doctors have long been interested in so-called xenotransplantation, or interspecies organ donation, with experiments dating back to the 17th century.
The first investigations focused on the extraction of organs from primates. For example, a baboon heart was transplanted into a newborn known as the “Baby Fae” in 1984, but it survived for only 20 days.
Today, pig heart valves are widely used in humans, and pig skin is grafted onto people who have suffered burns.
Pigs are ideal donors due to their size, rapid growth, large litters, and the fact that they are readily available, being raised for food.
.
Ricardo is a renowned author and journalist, known for his exceptional writing on top-news stories. He currently works as a writer at the 247 News Agency, where he is known for his ability to deliver breaking news and insightful analysis on the most pressing issues of the day.
