Dharamshala, 12th January: In a pioneering surgery at the University of Maryland School of Medicine in the United States, David Bennett, a 57-year-old man with terminal heart disease, had a heart transplant from a genetically engineered pig. Doctors opted to proceed with the experimental surgery after getting an emergency authorization because it was Bennett’s only choice.
Genetic variations that induce organ rejection and susceptibility to viruses and infections have caused pig-to-human transplants to fail in the past. New gene-editing technologies, on the other hand, have mitigated many of these hazards. Doctors indicated that the patient was doing well after the procedure on January 10.
Scientists aim to use more pig organs to alleviate donor organ shortages if Bennett’s recovery is successful. Pigs are the best prospects for transplants outside of human donors since their organs are identical to ours. The groundbreaking procedure has been heralded as a significant step forward in the decades-long quest to successfully transplant animal organs into humans.
According to a statement from the University of Maryland Medical Center, the surgery took place on Friday (Jan. 7) and the human patient is breathing on his own after four days, albeit he is still connected to a heart-lung machine to enhance his blood circulation (UMMC). The next few days and weeks will determine whether or not he survives the surgery.
The guy, 57-year-old David Bennett of Maryland, has fatal heart illness, but according to the announcement, many medical institutes ruled he was ineligible for a human transplant.
The FDA gave emergency approval to the pig-to-human surgery in Maryland on New Year’s Eve, citing a provision that enables experimental treatments to be utilized when there are no other options to save a patient’s life, according to the statement.
Because their hearts are nearly the same size and shape as human hearts, pigs are regarded as appropriate heart donors. Human heart valves have been successfully replaced with pig heart valves for decades, but the risk of a devastating immune system reaction has precluded entire hearts from being transplanted until now.
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