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The 57-year-old patient who survived two months after undergoing a landmark pig heart transplant died of a pig virus, his transplant surgeon announced last month.
In January, David Bennett, a handyman who suffered from heart failure, underwent a highly experimental surgery at the University of Maryland medical center in which doctors transplanted a genetically modified pig’s heart into him.
Shortly after undergoing the surgery, Bennett died in March. The hospital simply said his condition had worsened over the span of a few days but did not provide an exact cause of death.
Last month, Bennett’s transplant surgeon, Bartley Griffith, revealed that the pig’s heart was infected with a porcine virus known as porcine cytomegalovirus, which may have contributed to Bennett’s death. In a webinar hosted by the American Society of Transplantation on 20 April, Griffith described the virus and doctors’ attempts to treat it, MIT Technology Review first reported on Wednesday.
“We are beginning to learn why he passed on,” said Griffith, adding, “[the virus] maybe was the actor, or could be the actor, that set this whole thing off.”
www.theguardian.com
In January, David Bennett, a handyman who suffered from heart failure, underwent a highly experimental surgery at the University of Maryland medical center in which doctors transplanted a genetically modified pig’s heart into him.
Shortly after undergoing the surgery, Bennett died in March. The hospital simply said his condition had worsened over the span of a few days but did not provide an exact cause of death.
Last month, Bennett’s transplant surgeon, Bartley Griffith, revealed that the pig’s heart was infected with a porcine virus known as porcine cytomegalovirus, which may have contributed to Bennett’s death. In a webinar hosted by the American Society of Transplantation on 20 April, Griffith described the virus and doctors’ attempts to treat it, MIT Technology Review first reported on Wednesday.
“We are beginning to learn why he passed on,” said Griffith, adding, “[the virus] maybe was the actor, or could be the actor, that set this whole thing off.”
Man who received landmark pig heart transplant may have died of pig virus
Surgeon of David Bennett, who died two months after surgery, revealed that the pig’s heart was infected with porcine virus
www.theguardian.com