Researchers revealed on Tuesday (July 12) that two brain-dead patients received genetically modified pig hearts from surgeons at NYU Langone Health. This is the first successful transplant of a pig’s heart into a living being. According to experts, it is a positive move for the medical industry.
After reaching this milestone in organ transplantation, the researchers claimed they were progressing in their long-term objective of using pig parts to make up for the lack of available human organs for transplant.
The hearts showed normal heart function in the days following the operation, according to the doctors. The three-day studies in June and July showed no symptoms of rejection.
When a 57-year-old man with advanced heart disease passed away in March, it was discovered that the trials were carried out as a result of him being the first person to receive a genetically altered pig heart two months earlier at the University of Maryland. It is still unknown why his new heart eventually failed.
The operations were directed by Nader Moazami, the surgical director of the NYU Langone Transplant Institute’s heart transplant programme. According to Moazami, the institute intends to continue using the organs in clinical trials in the future.
Moazami stated in a statement, ‘I’m incredibly happy to inform you that your heart performed flawlessly. At the time of the transplant, we did need to make some technical surgical changes.’
Moazami continued, ‘Part of that is because the pig heart is very close to the human heart, but not exactly the same. The initial surgery we performed required some changes since the heart was slightly small, which contributed to part of that.
According to the researchers, Revivicor Inc. modified pig hearts and used an improved monitoring procedure to check them for viruses.
The safety of xenotransplantation in brain-dead recipients
As of right present, according to the researchers, brain dead recipients of xenotransplantation are safer than living patients. Biopsies can be performed more frequently, making them also more informative.
‘We could determine that in tremendous detail by taking biopsies, looking at it under a microscope, doing special staining, analyzing, you know, the…, from a molecular standpoint, what was happening in that organ. So the detail, the amount we could learn was tremendous,’ Moazami said.
NYU researchers also transplanted pig kidneys into two brain-dead recipients in 2021.
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