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By MARIA BEATRICE VILLASANA | Science Correspondents
Earlier this month, the 7th of January, 2021, the first-ever successful animal-to-human heart transplant happened. David Bennet, a 57-year-old patient, is already in his 6th week at the hospital in Baltimore, Maryland.
He has been bedridden with cardiac support for the past two months and is diagnosed with a heart disease called arrhythmia, wherein a person's heart beats irregularly, which can lead to death. (https://www.theguardian.com/science/audio/2022/jan/25/are-animals-the-future-of-human-organ-transplantation-podcast)
(https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/first-successful-pig-to-human-heart-transplant-may-offer-new-options-for-patients)
Bennet's condition needs an immediate surgery heart transplant but unfortunately, he is ineligible to have an artificial heart pump because of his arrhythmia and a conventional heart transplant, also known as the traditional heart transplant using another person's heart that is suitable for his body. He is considered too ill to have one of those two options or ways to survive.
(https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-022-00111-9)
In this case, the procedure called xenotransplantation has entered the situation. Xenotransplantation is the process of transplanting organs, tissues, or cells between two different species.
(https://www.fda.gov/vaccines-blood-biologics/xenotransplantation)
(https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/medicine-and-dentistry/xenotransplantation)
Porcine (pig) heart transplants are not approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA); however, they made an exception and authorized the surgery on new years eve. They called it "compassionate use" as no other options were remaining for the patient.
"It was either die or do this transplant. I want to live. I know it's a shot in the dark, but it's my last choice," Bennett said before the surgery. (https://www.dicardiology.com/article/first-human-receives-pig-heart-transplant)
A heart of a genetically modified pig is used to replace Bennett's. A genetically modified species means that the gene of a certain animal or species has or is changed. On January 7, 2022, the 9-hour surgery was conducted at the University of Maryland Medical Center (UMMC)
According to the reports, they carry on 10 different genomes or genetic modifications in the pig's heart for it to be compatible with the human system for it to function normally just like the heart of a human.
After the 9-hour surgery, Dr. Muhammad Mansoor Mohiuddin, a Pakistani-born doctor and the director of the Cardiac Xenotransplantation Programme at the University of Maryland School of Medicine and also the one who lead the breakthrough surgery, said that the surgery went well and the heart function looks great.
Two weeks after Bennett's heart transplant surgery, he is said to be alive and recovering well with his new heart beating soundly and is being monitored by Mohiuddin's team. The pig's heart inside his body is being supported by an ECMO machine but eventually, this will be removed for his body to fully adapt to his new heart.
(https://www.washingtonpost.com/science/2022/01/11/pig-heart-transplant-genetically-modified/)
“This was a breakthrough surgery and brings us one step closer to solving the organ shortage crisis. There are simply not enough donor human hearts available to meet the long list of potential recipients,” Dr. Bartley Griffith, who surgically transplanted the pig heart into the patient, said in a statement. (https://hospitalnews.com/man-gets-genetically-modified-pig-heart-in-world-first-transplant/#:~:text=%E2%80%9CThis%20was%20a%20breakthrough%20surgery,Dr.)
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