US man's life saved after pig heart transplant
The patient is said to be doing well, four days after his ground-breaking surgery
Last updated 11th Jan 2022
For the first time in medical history, US doctors have successfully transplanted a pig heart into a human patient to save his life.
57-Year-old David Bennett is said to be doing well, after he was left with no other option than to try the operation, which took seven hours last Friday (7 January).
His son told The Associated Press that Mr Bennet knew there was no guarantee of success, but he was dying of heart disease, and willing to take the risk.
It's still too soon to know for sure whether the operation will work, but it marks a ground-breaking step in the quest to use animal organs for life saving transplants.
In a statement provided by the University of Maryland School of Medicine, Mr Bennett said, a day before the surgery: "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".
A historic medical moment
A drastic shortage of human organ donations and record high needs for heart transplants in the US (3,800 last year) has led scientists to continue their research into using animal organs instead.
Previous attempts at such a procedure, known as xenotransplantation, have failed - due to human bodies rejecting the animal organs, for example in 1984, when a dying infant lived just 21 days with a baboon heart.
Doctors at the University of Maryland Medical Centre say the transplant now shows that a heart from a genetically modified animal can be accepted into the human body without rejection.
The main difference lies in the genetic modification of the animals, with the pig being used in David Bennett's instance undergoing gene-editing to remove a cellular sugar which causes a hyper-fast organ rejection.
"I think you can characterise it as a watershed event," Dr David Klassen, UNOS' chief medical officer, said of the Maryland transplant.
Dr Robert Montgomery, who led an experiment on animal-human-transplants at NYU Langone Health, said "this is a truly remarkable breakthrough".
"As a heart transplant recipient, myself with a genetic heart disorder, I am thrilled by this news and the hope it gives to my family and other patients who will eventually be saved by this breakthrough."
When fiction becomes reality
Malorie Blackman, author of 1997 children's book Pig Heart Boy, has said she "called it" after US doctors transplanted a pig's heart into a patient.
The book tells the story of 13-year-old Cameron Joshua Kelsey who has a serious heart condition.
Cameron accepts experimental surgery from a transgenics expert and becomes the subject of intense media attention.
The book was shortlisted for the Carnegie Medal literary award and adapted for TV by the BBC.
Responding to news of the transplant, 59-year-old Blackman wrote on Twitter: "I hope it works out for the man involved. Can't help but have a little smile though. #calledit #PigHeartBoy".
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