Second transplant of a pig heart into a human: successful?

2023-09-24 12:03:27

This historic operation took place at the University of Maryland School of Medicine, in the United States, where the first similar transplant was carried out in 2022. The first patient, David Bennett, died approximately two months following the previous operation due to various factors, including his precarious state of health before the transplant. These transplants of animal organs into humans, known as called xenografts, offer hope in the fight once morest the shortage of organ donations. Currently, more than 100,000 Americans are waiting for a transplant (source 1). The recent operation was carried out on September 20 on Lawrence Faucette, a former retired soldier suffering fromserious heart disease, for whom this procedure was the only viable option. His new pig’s heart works sans assistanceand he is undergoing treatment immunosuppressant to prevent rejection.

THE Xenografts are challenging due to the tendency of the recipient’s immune system to attack the foreign organ. The pigs used are genetically modified to reduce this risk. Recently, kidney transplants from genetically modified pigs have also been successfully performed on brain dead patients. The Institute of transplantation of NYU Langone Hospital in New York announced that it had successfully operated a pig kidney on a deceased person for two months, setting a new record in this promising area of ​​medical research.

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