Maryland doctors transplant pig’s heart into human patient in medical first

[Northerner]

In a medical first, doctors in Maryland have transplanted a genetically modified pig’s heart into a human patient in a last-ditch effort to save his life.

Doctors at the University of Maryland medical center said Monday that the patient was doing well three days after the highly experimental surgery, though it is too soon to know if the operation has been a success.

Nonetheless, the transplant marks a step in the decades-long quest to one day use animal organs for life-saving operations. Doctors said the transplant showed that a heart from a genetically modified animal can function in the human body without immediate rejection.

The patient, David Bennett, 57, a handyman, knew there was no guarantee the experiment would work but he was dying, ineligible for a human heart transplant and had no other option, his son said.

“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 a day before the surgery, according to a statement provided by the University of Maryland School of Medicine.

Maryland doctors transplant pig’s heart into human patient in medical first

Patient is doing well three days after the highly experimental surgery, doctors say, though it’s too soon to know if it is a success

www.theguardian.com

😱

 

[Leadinglights]

In a medical first, doctors in Maryland have transplanted a genetically modified pig’s heart into a human patient in a last-ditch effort to save his life.

Doctors at the University of Maryland medical center said Monday that the patient was doing well three days after the highly experimental surgery, though it is too soon to know if the operation has been a success.

Nonetheless, the transplant marks a step in the decades-long quest to one day use animal organs for life-saving operations. Doctors said the transplant showed that a heart from a genetically modified animal can function in the human body without immediate rejection.

The patient, David Bennett, 57, a handyman, knew there was no guarantee the experiment would work but he was dying, ineligible for a human heart transplant and had no other option, his son said.

“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 a day before the surgery, according to a statement provided by the University of Maryland School of Medicine.

Maryland doctors transplant pig’s heart into human patient in medical first

Patient is doing well three days after the highly experimental surgery, doctors say, though it’s too soon to know if it is a success

www.theguardian.com

😱

Amazing, I well remember the first human heart transplant and how exciting that was.
I know everybody gets upset about animal testing but seem to forget many of the medical 'miracles' would not have happened were it not for animal testing even insulin. We would not have the insulins we have today were it not for genetic modification which there was uproar against for many years.

 

[Barbie1]

Patient might be doing well, but doubt the pig is.

 

[Northerner]

As a little aside, I noticed that 'Never Let Me Go', by Kazuo Ishiguro is one of today's Amazon 99p offerings. If you haven't read it, I'd highly recommend it 🙂 It gives a different take to the use of animals for transplantation which is also no doubt being considered in some parts of the world 😱 There was a film of the book starring Keira Knightley, but well worth reading the book (in fact, anything by Ishiguro is worth reading, his writing is absolutely of the highest order 🙂 )

 

[Northerner]

Also, on the subject of pig transplantations, how about this story from a few years ago, which inspired my poem 'Pig Sushi'



Just when I think I have heard the most bizarre research being conducted into finding a cure for diabetes, along comes another, even more extraordinary notion! Pig sushi definitely makes it into my top ten potential cures! Apparently, according to this New Scientist article, scientists have been exploring the potential of using porcine islet cells coated in a seaweed-derived extract to transplant into humans. The pig cells used are taken from a special breed of pig which lives only on Auckland Island south of New Zealand, which has been isolated for over two centuries and is free from any organism likely to infect humans. The seaweed helps to overcome the possibility of the cells being rejected by the host body.

I await with wonder and eagerness the ‘cure’ that will trump Pig Sushi on my all-time list of diabetes cures!

Waiter, excuse me, but what’s this dish here?
It sounds quite revolting and decidedly queer!
For I always thought sushi was made out of fish,
But what you are offering is a quite different dish!

Ah yes sir, pig sushi – a specialty of ours,
And a dish that’s possessed of some magical powers!
It’s pork wrapped in seaweed from the Sargasso Sea,
And it cures diabetes (though there are no guarantees!)

But why so expensive for seaweed and pork?
Is it served with champagne and a solid gold fork?
Do they fly pigs from China on a business class fare?
Do they pluck strands of seaweed from a fair mermaid’s hair?

Not quite sir, but almost, for the pigs that we seek,
Live south of New Zealand in a herd that’s unique…
Some say they are tended by mystical elves,
And they don’t need a plane as they fly here themselves!

Well it sounds like a meal that is fit for a king!
Whoever could imagine such a remarkable thing?
Bring it at once! I can’t wait to be cured!
And there’ll be a large tip, of that be assured!

 

[mikeyB]

I trust they managed to filter out all the animal viruses that live in pigs. I hope the recipient of this pioneering surgery can make the most of his remaining life, and his family.

 

[nonethewiser]

Fascinating, potential to save so many lives.