A 57-year-old man from Maryland is doing well three days after receiving a genetically modified pig heart in a first-of-its-kind transplant surgery, the University of Maryland School of Medicine said in a press release on Monday.
David Bennett had terminal heart disease, and the animal’s organ was “the only option currently available,” according to the statement. Bennett was found ineligible for a conventional heart transplant or an artificial heart pump after reviews of his medical records.
“It was either die or have this transplant. I want to live. I know it’s a long shot, but it’s my last choice,” Bennett said before the surgery.
The US Food and Drug Administration, a body similar to Anvisa, granted emergency authorization for the surgery on December 31, 2021.
Three genes that are responsible for the rejection of pig organs by the human immune system were removed and one gene was removed to prevent the overgrowth of pig heart tissue. Six human genes responsible for immune acceptance were inserted.
Bennett’s doctors will need to monitor him for weeks to see if the transplant works to provide life-saving benefits. He will be monitored for immune system problems or any other complications.
“There simply aren’t enough human donor hearts available to service the long list of potential recipients,” surgeon Dr. Bartley P. Griffith said in a statement. “We are proceeding with caution, but we are also optimistic that this world-first surgery will provide an important new option for patients in the future.”
A total of 106,657 people are on the national transplant waiting list, and 17 people die each day waiting for an organ, according to the US government.
Art Caplan, a professor of bioethics at New York University, said he was a little apprehensive when he heard the news of Bennett’s transplant. “I hope they have the data to try to do this now, based on their animal studies,” he said.
The United States has a “terrible” shortage of organs for transplants, he said. He believes engineering animal parts is a solution. “The question is, can we get there with minimal damage to the first volunteers?” he added.
Pig heart valves have been transplanted into humans for many years. In October, surgeons successfully tested transplanting a genetically modified pig kidney into a woman in New York who was brain-dead.
Caplan said it’s too early to consider the heart transplant a success. That label will come if Bennett has a good quality of life for months, the professor said.
Whatever the outcome, it’s important for researchers to learn something that can be applied to future transplants, he added.
The other ethical issue is around consent, he said. It must come from people other than the patient, who will most likely agree to the surgery if they are facing death.
More than 40,000 transplants — a record — were performed in 2021, according to the Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network, an organization in the field.
This content was originally created in English.
original version
Reference: CNN Brasil
