The chief transplantologist at the Ministry of Health and the director of the Shumakov Center for Transplantology and Artificial Organs said two patients who died after a genetically modified pig heart transplant might have been eligible for a conventional transplant, and it was not clear why they were not given a heart transplant. academician and Professor Sergei Gauthier.
It was previously learned that a second patient who received a pig heart transplant in the USA died due to organ rejection.
“I am interested in the ethical side of the question: why exactly these two people are doomed to participate in such experiments, who decides this? Doctors told them they would not qualify for organ donation because their chances of surviving the surgery were low. “This is all a piece of writing,” said the transplant specialist.
According to him, the impossibility of immunosuppressive therapy is generally considered a contraindication to transplantation. This condition often occurs with cancer – such patients should not reduce their already weakened immunity. This will lead to worsening of their condition.
“We don’t know what happened to the second patient. But if we are talking about sustaining life due to heart failure, US medicine has enormous resources to mechanically support heart activity. This is not a fantasy, it is routine. The question then becomes: If a patient, for example, has an implanted mechanical Why is he dying from pig graft rejection instead of continuing to live with the left ventricle,” Gauthier explained.
The professor is sure that in developed countries there should be no such thing as death from rejection. In countries with developed healthcare systems, such as the United States, it is possible to perform a heart transplant or use mechanical circulatory support.
“I cannot say that this area should be abandoned. You need to take a break, do some more research, understand why these two patients died, analyze why this genetic modification did not produce the expected results. And then you cannot waste human life in the pursuit of sensations like that. “We can at least try to find other ways to save their lives,” the academician concluded.
Former MIPT scientist Bakumenko statedIt is stated that the growth direction of pig hearts is promising.