Such an operation was carried out for the first time in 2022 in the same establishment, the medical school of the University of Maryland, in the United States.
The then patient, David Bennett, died approximately two months following the procedure, “due to a multitude of factors, including his poor health” before the transplant, the university wrote in a statement Friday.
Such transplants of animal organs into humans, called xenografts, might offer a solution to the chronic shortage of organ donations. More than 100,000 Americans are currently on the waiting list for a transplant.
The “only option” for him
The new operation took place on September 20. Lawrence Faucette, a former retired soldier, suffered from a serious heart disease which almost certainly doomed him. He was declared ineligible to receive a human heart transplant, and this solution therefore represented for him “the only option”according to the press release.
“At least now I have hope and I have a chance”he declared before the intervention, according to the same source.
“We have no other expectations than to spend more time together”said his wife. “It can be as simple as sitting on the porch in front of the house and having our coffee together.”
Lawrence Faucette is currently breathing alone, and his new heart is working well, without assistance, doctors said. He is taking immunosuppressive treatments, as well as “a new antibody therapy”in order to avoid rejection.
Xenografts pose a challenge because the recipient’s immune system tends to attack the foreign organ. This is why pigs are genetically modified, to also reduce this risk.
Recently, kidney transplants from genetically modified pigs have also been performed on brain dead patients.
The Transplant Institute at NYU Langone Hospital in New York announced this month that it had successfully operating a pig kidney on a deceased person for two months, a record.
