In 1st, US surgeons transplant pig heart into human patient

[Omaha Steve]

Source: AP

By CARLA K. JOHNSON

In a medical first, doctors transplanted a pig heart into a patient in a last-ditch effort to save his life and a Maryland hospital said Monday that he’s doing well three days after the highly experimental surgery.

While it’s too soon to know if the operation really will work, it marks a step in the decades-long quest to one day use animal organs for life-saving transplants. Doctors at the University of Maryland Medical Center say the transplant showed that a heart from a genetically modified animal can function in the human body without immediate rejection.

The patient, David Bennett, a 57-year-old Maryland 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 told The Associated Press.

“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.

https://storage.googleapis.com/afs-prod/media/eaca8f3e012b4e1bb4d225bf728cfb2d/1

In this photo provided by the University of Maryland School of Medicine, members of the surgical team show the pig heart for transplant into patient David Bennett in Baltimore on Friday, Jan. 7, 2022. On Monday, Jan. 10, 2022 the hospital said that he's doing well three days after the highly experimental surgery. (Mark Teske/University of Maryland School of Medicine via AP)
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Read more: https://apnews.com/article/pig-heart-transplant-6651614cb9d73bada8eea2ecb6449aef

[flying_wahini]

1. Pigs are used for heart valves and skin for burns, a lady I knew had a pigs bladder due to bladder c

And that was in 1975.

Pigs are pretty amazing.

[ret5hd]

2. On the other hand, pigs think we suck.

[reACTIONary]

11. I trust the pigs. nt

[mitch96]

3. I heard a NPR blerb about a special pig kidney being used on a human

The patient was brain dead but otherwise a viable recipient. The family agreed to the procedure. Apparently pig kidneys have an enzyme that the human body rejects. This pig was bred to not have this enzyme present. The minute the kidney was attached to the recipient it produced urine and was not rejected. The article mentioned that this would be a viable alternative for a patient waiting for a donor kidney.. Kinda neat...
m

[Snackshack]

4. Wow.

Just...

Wow.

[iluvtennis]

8. + agree. n/t

[mike_c]

5. every day is a blessing, n/t

[Jilly_in_VA]

6. Curious as to why

he was ineligible for a human heart transplant. Too sick? Sometimes they transplant human hearts into sicker patients that would not be transplanted into healthier patients. From older donors, for instance. Transplant rules are kind of weird.

[reACTIONary]

12. Good question. I looked into it...

....and found this:

https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/transplant/referring-physicians/heart-transplant-criteria.html

Following are the absolute ineligibilities. Just being a smoker and you are out.

Absolute Contraindications
Absolute contraindications for adults and children include, but may not be limited to:

Major systemic disease
Age inappropriateness (70 years of age)
Cancer in the last 5 years except localized skin (not melanoma) or stage I breast or prostate
Active smoker (less than 6 months since quitting)
Active substance abuse
HIV
Severe local or systemic infection
Severe neurologic deficits
Major psychiatric illness or active substance abuse that cannot be managed sufficiently to allow post-transplant care and safety

[TexasBushwhacker]

23. Figures. Dick Cheney got his new heart when he was 71 n/t

[Jilly_in_VA]

26. He never had one before

so it was an implant, not a transplant.

[muriel_volestrangler]

25. The Washington Post just has this:

Doctors at the hospital and elsewhere had deemed Bennett ineligible for a human heart transplant after reviewing his medical records, leaving the experimental surgery as his “only option for survival,” the statement said. It did not specify what disqualified him.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/science/2022/01/11/pig-heart-transplant-genetically-modified/

and I guess confidentiality rules may prevent them from saying more.

[Marthe48]

7. Like Dr. Christiaan Barnard and Louis Washkansky

This historic transplant will forever be a milestone.

Thanks to the scientists, medical professionals, the courageous patient, and the pig for this scintillating moment in human endeavor.

[lastlib]

9. OMG!! Is Josh Hawley still alive??!?

[reACTIONary]

13. I don't think he has a heart to give....

...must have been some other pig.

[monkeyman1]

18. his is a jackass !!

[Grasswire2]

10. the jokes write themselves. nt

[Talitha]

14. That'll do, Pig...

[OnlinePoker]

15. If the pig was Trump, I think I'd skip the transplant. n/t

[Probatim]

22. If the pig was TFG, it would have been blocked from donating.

[cstanleytech]

16. Donald Trump donated his heart? Oh, wait I misread the the article my bad.

[Bluejeans]

17. A friend's father was in the NIH trials for the pig heart valve years ago (funny story)

When I was in high school, the father of one of my friends was in the NIH trials for transplanting pig heart valves into humans. Eric's dad was in really bad shape from the heart valve problem, so he felt he had nothing to lose by going through the trial surgery.

Months later after his recovery from the successful surgery, Eric's dad kidded my father and me, "It's a good thing I'm Catholic; I could never be kosher with that pig valve in me!"

[Jerry2144]

19. That's nothing. I'd like to meet the surgeon

Who transplanted a jelly fish’s spine into Ted Cruz

[FakeNoose]

20. Dick Cheney is following this story closely

[RainCaster]

21. This post immediately follows one about Mccarthy

Not coincidental.

[Kablooie]

24. The queen doesn't like this.

[roamer65]

27. Avenue for zoonotic transfer of viruses.