Surgeons Bartley Griffith and David Bennett in January 2022. American surgeons have performed the world’s first experimental operation to transplant a genetically modified pig heart into a patient. Doctors say it is David Bennett’s only chance of survival – without the transplant, he would have faced certain death. According to surgeons, Bennett underwent the seven-hour surgery three days ago and remains in good condition.
“For me, the choice was between death and this transplant,” Bennett, 57, said the day before the surgery. “I understand that my future is completely unknown, but for me, this is my last chance.”
Specialists at the University of Maryland Medical Center have received special permission from the authorities to perform the operation, saying that the patient will die without it. It is still unclear whether the transplant will be successful. Doctors considered it impossible to transplant a human heart into David Bennett – a decision usually made when the patient is in critical condition.
For the surgeons, the operation is the result of years of research. They hope their success will help save the lives of many people around the world. In its statement, the University of Maryland quotes surgeon Bartley Griffith, who says the operation is intended to “bring the solution to the organ donor shortage crisis closer. According to OrganDonor.gov, there are approximately 100,000 people waiting for an organ transplant in the United States alone, and 17 patients die every day due to organ shortages.
Scientists have long discussed the possibility of transplanting animal organs into humans, known as xenotransplantation. In cardiovascular surgery, the transplantation of certain parts of a pig’s heart, particularly heart valves, is already widely used.
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In October 2021, surgeons in New York reported that they had successfully transplanted a pig kidney into a human: at the time, it was the most complex operation of its kind in history. However, the patient who received the kidney was brain dead and there was no hope of recovery. But Bennett is hopeful that he will now be able to live a normal life. Prior to the surgery, he was confined to a hospital bed for six weeks due to a life-threatening heart condition. He was only able to survive thanks to medical equipment. “I really want to get out of bed when I recover,” he said last Thursday.
It is not yet known what happened after the operation. Agence France-Presse reports that the animal whose heart was used for the transplant was genetically modified: scientists had to remove a gene that could have caused rejection of the transplanted organ. Doctors now “err on the side of caution,” Griffith says, and carefully monitor the patient’s condition. Bennett’s son said in an interview with the Associated Press that their family is currently “immersed in uncertainty. “He understands the significance of what was done, realizes what a great accomplishment it is,” he said of his father.