In the world’s first transplant, man get a genetically modified pig heart

In the world’s first transplant, man get a genetically modified pig heart

An American man has become the first person in the world to receive a heart transplant from a genetically modified pig.

David Bennett, 57, is doing well three days after a seven-hour experimental procedure in Baltimore, doctors say.

The transplant was believed to be the last hope of saving Mr. Bennett’s life, although it is not yet clear what his long-term chances of survival are.

The day before the surgery, Mr. Bennett explained, “It was either die or transplant it.”

“I know it’s a shot in the dark, but it’s my last choice,” he said.

Doctors at the University of Maryland Medical Center were given a special exemption by the US medical regulator to perform the procedure, on the grounds that Mr Bennett – who has terminal heart disease – would have died otherwise.

They were deemed ineligible for human transplantation, a decision often taken by doctors when the patient is in very poor health.

The pig used in the transplant was genetically modified to destroy several genes, causing the organ to be rejected by Mr Bennett’s body, AFP news agency reported.

For the medical team that performed the transplant, it marks the culmination of years of research and could change lives around the world.

Surgeon Bartley Griffith said the surgery would bring the world “one step closer to solving the organ shortage crisis”. Currently, 17 people die every day in the US awaiting transplants, of whom more than 100,000 are reportedly on waiting lists.

Christine Lau, chair of the Department of Surgery at the University of Maryland School of Medicine, was in the operating theater during the surgery.

“He’s at greater risk because we need more immunosuppression, which is a little different than what we normally do in human-to-human transplants. How well the patient does now is, you know, it’s like never before. So we really don’t know,” she told the BBC.

“People die all the time waiting for organs on the waiting list. If we can use genetically engineered pig organs they never have to wait, they can basically get an organ because they need it. the wanted.

“Plus, we won’t have to fly across the country at night to put organs in recipients,” she said.

The possibility of using animal organs for so-called xenotransplantation to meet demand has long been considered, and

In October 2021, surgeons in New York announced that they had successfully transplanted a pig kidney into a person. At the time, the operation was the most advanced experiment ever conducted in the field.

However, on that occasion the recipient was brain dead and there was no hope of his recovery.

This watershed moment offers hope for a solution to the chronic shortage of donor human organs. But there is still a long way to go to determine whether giving animal organs to people is the way forward. Pig hearts are physically similar to human hearts, but are understandably not identical. This is not ideal compared to swapping in a human donor heart. But it is possible to drop them in and get them to work.

The big issue is organ rejection. These pigs lack genes that can lead to rejection. They are cloned with certain genes to “knock out” and reared until they reach an age where their organs are large enough to be harvested for transplant.

It is too early to know how Mr. Bennett will treat his pig’s heart. His doctors were clear that the surgery was a gamble. The risk is huge, but so are the potential benefits.

“I look forward to getting out of bed after I recover,” he said last week.

On Monday, Mr Bennett was reported to be breathing on his own under careful observation.

But what will happen next is not clear.

Mr Griffith said he was proceeding cautiously and closely monitoring Mr Bennett, while his son David Bennett Jr. told the Associated Press that the family was “into the unknown at this time”.

But he added: “He feels the magnitude of what was done and he really understands the importance of it.”

“We’ve never done this in a human and I think we’ve given him a better option to continue his therapy,” Griffith said. “But whether [he will live] a day, week, month, year, I don’t know.”

Also Read:- Kazakhstan says 164 people have been killed during the unrest : Report 10 Jan 2022