Scientists at the University of Maryland performed the second pig heart transplant on a patient whose life was in danger due to heart failure. This was reported by Associated Press (AP).
Lawrence Fawcett, a 58-year-old U.S. Navy veteran who suffered from heart failure, was ineligible for a human heart transplant due to underlying medical conditions. He became the second patient in the world to receive a pig’s heart. Two days after the surgery, the man began to joke and was able to sit on a chair. Although the next few weeks will be critical, doctors are optimistic because the patient’s immune response to the foreign organ is good. The pig heart provided by Revivicor has 10 genetic modifications that remove some pig genes and add human genes to make it more compatible with the human immune system.
Last year, the same team of surgeons performed the world’s first genetically modified pig heart transplant on another man, David Bennett, who lived only two months. At that time, scientists found evidence that a swine virus was hiding inside the heart, so they performed different tests before transplantation for the new operation and added additional medications to the list of post-operative treatments.
There is a massive shortage of human organs for transplantation, available only to patients with the best chance of long-term survival. Attempts to transplant organs from animals to humans have failed for decades because people’s immune systems instantly destroy foreign cells. The use of genetically modified pigs has solved this problem.
Previous scientists in the name A type of headache associated with an increased risk of heart attack and stroke.