In an effort to save the life of a 57-year-old man, doctors from the University of Maryland School of Medicine achieved a major medical breakthrough. According to the Associated Press, last Friday, surgeons performed a pig heart transplant into a human.
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With this experiment, doctors showed that a genetically modified animal organ could survive and function inside the human body, without immediate rejection. Three days after this special transplant, the 57-year-old patient, David Bennett, is alive and "doing well," according to the hospital.
The Food and Drug Administration approved the genetically modified pig heart transplant as a last resort to save the patient. Bennett was not eligible for a traditional heart transplant and had no other options. “I’m either going to die or I’m going to have this transplant. I want to live. I know it has a slim chance of success, but it’s my last option,” the 57-year-old said in a statement before doctors performed the surgery.
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Scientists have been trying to save people with animal organs for decades. One of the most notable attempts came in 1984 when doctors transplanted a baboon heart into Stephanie Fae Beauclair, an infant born with hypoplastic left heart syndrome. Baby Fae, as the little patient was better known, survived for 21 days before her body finally rejected the transplanted organ.
According to the New York Times, this latest pig-to-human heart transplant is different from previous attempts, as doctors used a heart that had been genetically modifiedto remove some genes that would increase the chances of the organ being rejected by the body. They also added some human genes. Whether the experiment represents a breakthrough will depend on what happens next. Bennett's body may still reject the pig heart. For now, though, he's alive and well, and doctors are excited.
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“If this works, there will be an endless supply of these organs for patients who are suffering,” Dr. Muhammad Mohiuddin, scientific director of the xenotransplantation program at the University of Maryland School of Medicine, told the Associated Press. The success of this transplant would be a very significant achievement. According to the Health Resources and Services Administration, more than 100,000 people are on the national transplant waiting list and 17 people die every day waiting for an organ transplant.
Source: Engadget
