Transplantation of a pig heart “was the only option available to the patient”, since several hospitals had ruled out the possibility of a conventional transplant.
The University of Maryland School of Medicine (USA) reported this Monday that it managed to transplant a pig heart genetically modified a 57-year-old man in a surgery he called “historic.”
“This organ transplant demonstrated for the first time that a animal heart Genetically modified can function like a human heart without immediate rejection by the body, “the institution detailed in a statement.
The patient, David Bennet, 57 years old and a Maryland resident, he underwent surgery three days ago at the University Medical Center after suffering an arrhythmia and is under medical surveillance in good health.
According to the institution, the transplantation of a pig heart “it was the only option available to the patient”, since several hospitals had ruled out the possibility of a conventional transplant.
“Was it to die or do this transplant. I want to live. I know it is a shot in the dark, but it is my last option, “said the patient, according to the statement from the University of Maryland.
The United States Food and Drug Administration authorized the operation of Bennet on New Year’s Eve, who had been bedridden for months and was informed of the risks of the operation, as it was a still experimental technique.
A New York hospital last October managed to temporarily transplant the kidney of a genetically modified pig into a human body, another success that, like the one known this Monday, may lead in the future to the need for donating organs from a deceased to save someone else’s life.
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