Groundbreaking Pig Heart Transplant Offers New Hope for Terminal Heart Disease Patients

2023-09-23 07:43:00

(CNN) — For the second time in history, a pig heart has been transplanted into a live human recipient, the University of Maryland Medical Center announced Friday.

The groundbreaking operation was performed on September 20 at UMMC by the same transplant team that performed the first experimental operation of its kind in 2022.

In a news release, the hospital said the recipient, Lawrence Faucette, 58, “is currently breathing on his own and his heart is functioning well without assistance from assistive devices.”

Faucette suffered from terminal heart disease. She had pre-existing peripheral vascular disease and complications with internal bleeding that made her ineligible for a traditional heart transplant, the hospital said in the statement. She was admitted to UMMC on September 14 following experiencing symptoms of heart failure.

“The only hope I have left is the pig’s heart, the xenotransplant,” Faucette told the hospital in an internal interview several days before the operation.

The experimental xenotransplantation operation was given the green light under the FDA’s “compassionate use” program. According to FDAthe program is “a potential avenue for a patient with a serious or immediately life-threatening disease or condition to access an investigational medical product (drug, biological product, or medical device) for treatment outside the clinical trials when no comparable or satisfactory alternative therapeutic options are available.

The pig heart used came from a pig genetically modified by Revivcor, a subsidiary of United Therapeutics Corporation. The pig had 10 genes edited, including three genes “deleted” or inactivated to eliminate the alpha gal sugar in the pig’s blood cells, which can trigger a serious reaction in the human immune system, causing rejection of the organ. Another porcine gene was modified to control the growth of the pig heart and 6 human genes were added to the pig genome to increase its acceptance by the immune system. The FDA first approved gene-edited pigs in 2020 for potential therapeutic use and consumption.

Doctors are also treating Faucette with an experimental antibody treatment to further suppress the immune system and prevent rejection. You will be closely monitored for any signs of rejection or the development of pork-related viruses. The donor pig was also thoroughly examined for any signs of pathogens.

“Once once more we are offering a dying patient the opportunity for a longer life, and we are incredibly grateful to Mr. Faucette for his bravery and willingness to help advance our knowledge of this field,” stated Dr. Bartley Griffith in the notice. Griffith is the surgeon who performed the transplant and is a professor of Surgery at the University of Maryland School of Medicine.

According to the hospital, Faucette gave his full consent to the experimental treatment and was informed of all risks. Additionally, he underwent a complete psychiatric evaluation and discussed his case with a medical ethicist.

According to the hospital’s news release, Faucette is a married father of two, a native of Frederick, Maryland, and a 20-year Navy veteran who had most recently worked as a laboratory technician at the National Institutes of Health. before retiring.

“We have no expectations other than to spend more time together,” his wife, Ann Faucette, stated in the statement. “That might be as simple as sitting on the porch and having coffee together.” There are currently no clinical trials using pig organs for transplantation into living humans. The University of Maryland performed the first experimental operation of its kind on David Bennett, 57, in January 2022. Bennett died two months following the operation.

Although there were no signs of rejection in the first weeks following the transplant, the autopsy concluded that Bennett ultimately died of heart failure due to “a complex series of factors,” including his condition before the operation. Bennet had already been hospitalized and hooked up to a cardiopulmonary bypass machine for six weeks before the transplant. However, a study of the case carried out by doctors and published in the journal The Lancet also indicated that there was evidence of the presence of a swine virus that had not been previously identified.

According to the federal government, there are more than 113,000 people on the organ transplant list, of which 3,354 need a heart. The group Donate Life America says 17 people die every day waiting for a donor organ.

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