In 1st, US surgeons transplant pig heart into human patient

[millefleur 5,046]

Quote

 

In a medical first, doctors transplanted a pig heart into a patient in a last-ditch effort to save his life and a Maryland hospital said Monday that he’s doing well three days after the highly experimental surgery.

 

While it’s too soon to know if the operation really will work, it marks a step in the decades-long quest to one day use animal organs for life-saving transplants. Doctors at the University of Maryland Medical Center say the transplant showed that a heart from a genetically modified animal can function in the human body without immediate rejection.

 

The patient, David Bennett, a 57-year-old Maryland handyman, knew there was no guarantee the experiment would work but he was dying, ineligible for a human heart transplant and had no other option, his son told The Associated Press.

 

“It was either die or do this transplant. I want to live. I know it’s a shot in the dark, but it’s my last choice,” Bennett said a day before the surgery, according to a statement provided by the University of Maryland School of Medicine.

 

Read more here: https://apnews.com/article/pig-heart-transplant-6651614cb9d73bada8eea2ecb6449aef

Edited January 11, 2022 by millefleur

[Mike E 11,739]

I presume this was from a pig whose brain scan showed now signs of cognition and it had an organ donor card.

[TBoneTX 45,266]

Truly amazing, even if it lasts only for a few days.  What a boon for the thousands on the transplant waitlist.

Edited January 11, 2022 by TBoneTX

[millefleur 5,046]

7 minutes ago, TBoneTX said:

Truly amazing, even if it lasts only for a few days.  What a boon for the thousands on the transplant waitlist.

Well, if it only lasts for a few days, I'm not sure it'll become a regular thing. Even with normal transplants, anti-rejection drugs are really, really hard on the body. They can cause renal failure and cancer and all kinds of other issues, so given all the other stuff transplantees have to go through, if the pig heart doesn't look like it will last, it probably won't become a standard back up for those on the waitlist. 😕 I'm curious to see how long he will pull through with this though!

 

It's sad to hear he was ineligible for a human heart. Makes me wonder why they assumed a pig's heart was a better match...?

[TBoneTX 45,266]

1 hour ago, millefleur said:

Makes me wonder why they assumed a pig's heart was a better match...?

"Compassionate use."

[yuna628 9,671]

11 hours ago, millefleur said:

Well, if it only lasts for a few days, I'm not sure it'll become a regular thing. Even with normal transplants, anti-rejection drugs are really, really hard on the body. They can cause renal failure and cancer and all kinds of other issues, so given all the other stuff transplantees have to go through, if the pig heart doesn't look like it will last, it probably won't become a standard back up for those on the waitlist. 😕 I'm curious to see how long he will pull through with this though!

 

It's sad to hear he was ineligible for a human heart. Makes me wonder why they assumed a pig's heart was a better match...?

He's ineligible for a human heart because of the nature of his condition. A pig would be the next logical choice because: 1) pigs are 98% biologically compatible and 2) the pig in this case has been genetically altered to remove specific things. In doing so this would make it more likely that the rejection rate would be less. 3) we've already proven that pigs are extremely useful in this area of medicine for years, especially for valve replacements and pancreatic treatments.

[millefleur 5,046]

US man who got 1st pig heart transplant dies after 2 months

The first person to receive a heart transplant from a pig has died, two months after the groundbreaking experiment, the Maryland hospital that performed the surgery announced Wednesday.

David Bennett, 57, died Tuesday at the University of Maryland Medical Center. Doctors didn’t give an exact cause of death, saying only that his condition had begun deteriorating several days earlier.

Read more here: https://apnews.com/article/pig-heart-transplant-patient-dies-bc3b304de3c8d3bf3acbb3c221960ecf

[spookyturtle 9,465]

Yet look how long Trump survived with a pig brain. 

[Mike E 11,739]

11 minutes ago, spookyturtle said:

Yet look how long Trump survived with a pig brain. 

Longer than several others I can think of.  

[Dashinka 24,488]

1 hour ago, spookyturtle said:

Yet look how long Trump survived with a pig brain. 

Kind of analogous to Old Joe living with no brain. 

Edited March 9, 2022 by Dashinka

[spookyturtle 9,465]

6 hours ago, Dashinka said:

Kind of analogous to Old Joe living with no brain. 

I’d say his best days are behind him. 

[TBoneTX 45,266]

10 hours ago, Dashinka said:

Kind of analogous to Old Joe living with no brain. 

Or a NY Congresswoman living with an Occasional-Cortex.