Genetically modified pig heart transplanted into second patient

The first patient to receive such an organ died after two months. “At least now I have hope,” the second recipient said before the operation.

Baltimore surgeons transplanted the heart of a genetically modified pig in a man with a terminal heart. disease that had no other hope of treatment, the University of Maryland Medical Center announced Friday.

It is the second such procedure performed by surgeons. The first patient, David Bennett, 57, died two months after his transplant, but the pig's heart was working well and there were no signs of acute organ rejection, a major risk in such procedures. p>

The second patient, Lawrence Faucette, 58, a Navy veteran and married father of two in Frederick, Md., underwent a transplant Wednesday and is "recovering well and communicates with loved ones,” the medical center said. in a statement.

Mr. Faucette, who suffered from terminal heart disease and other complex medical problems, was so ill that he was rejected from all transplant programs using human donor organs.

“At least now I have hope and I have a chance,” Mr. Faucette said before the operation. “I will fight tooth and nail for every breath I can take.”

ImageMr. Faucette, a 20-year Navy veteran with heart failure from Frederick, Md., and his wife, Ann Faucette, before surgery. Mr. Faucette, 58, received a genetically modified pig heart at the University of Maryland Medical Center.Credit...University of Maryland Medical Center

The transplant was carried out by Dr. Bartley Griffith, who operated on the first patient. Dr. Muhammad Mohiuddin of the University of Maryland School of Medicine designed the protocol.

Mr. Bennett died after multiple complications and traces of a virus that infects pigs were found in his new heart, raising concerns that so-called xenotransplantations of animal organs into humans could introduce new agents pathogens in the human population. ="css-at9mc1 evys1bk0">Hospital officials said they repeatedly tested the pig used in the transplant last week for both the virus, called porcine cytomegalovirus, and antibodies using a new test which was not available at the time of Mr. Bennett's transplant.

Before undergoing the transplant, Mr. Faucette said he recognized that it would be a miracle if he could leave the hospital and return home, and a Another miracle if he survived for months or another year.

“In reality, we are at the early stage of the learning process,” he said. -he said about the procedure.

In recent years, the science of xenotransplantation has made enormous advances thanks to gene editing and cloning technologies designed to make animal organs less likely to be rejected by the human immune system.

Although progress is still in its infancy, it offers hope to the more than 100,000 Americans who live with terminal organ disease and yet face a severe shortage of human donor organs. Most of those waiting for an organ need a kidney, but fewer than 25,000 kidney transplants are performed each year and thousands die on waiting lists.

Transplant surgeons from the University of Alabama at Birmingham and NYU Langone Health transplanted kidneys from genetically modified pigs into brain-dead patients kept on ventilators, demonstrating that the kidneys can produce urine and fill with other essential biological functions without being rejected.

“There is a growing need for organs and people with end-stage organ failure who are out of options” , s...