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Xenotransplantation: Man has been living with a pig's heart for a month

2022-02-06T10:07:58.280Z


The survival time of one month is a huge success, say David Bennett's doctors. He is the first person to have a pig heart implanted. His body could still reject the animal organ.


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A pig's heart has been beating in David Bennett's body for a month

Photo: University of Maryland School of Medicine (UMSOM)/EPA

A month after the transplant, a man in the US who had a pig heart transplanted is doing well under the circumstances.

David Bennett, 57, is alive and well, a University of Maryland spokesman said Sunday morning.

Bennett had a pig's heart implanted on January 7th.

The transfer of animal organs to humans is called xenotransplantation.

"The long survival time of one month is a huge success for xenotransplantation, especially when you consider that the first human-to-human heart transplantation in Germany lasted less than 24 hours," explained Joachim Denner, a transplantation expert from Freie Universität Berlin.

But the surgery is new scientific territory.

There is a risk that the situation will deteriorate.

Bennett must therefore be observed around the clock in the clinic.

The greatest danger to his life is that the organ will be rejected, says expert Denner.

The immune system needs a certain amount of time before it builds up an immune response.

At the moment, the antibodies and immune cells that are able to reject the heart are only being formed.

Bennett needs 24-hour surveillance

According to the University of Maryland Medical Center in Baltimore, where the surgery took place in early January, Bennett has shown no signs of rejection.

He was awake, responsive and asked medical staff when he could go home.

However, this is not likely to happen any time soon, as Bennett has to be monitored around the clock in the clinic.

The medical masterpiece of the scientists in the USA was to circumvent or otherwise overturn the various mechanisms of the human body that could lead to rejection from the outset.

In order for their organs to be used for humans, the genome of the donor animals must be modified.

In the case from the USA, ten genetic modifications were made. Among other things, this involves certain sugar structures on the surface of pig cells, against which humans naturally have antibodies. Also, there is a risk of blood clots. The patient is also given medication to suppress the immune response.

Xenotransplantation – i.e. the transfer of animal organs to humans – has been researched since the 1980s.

Pigs are particularly suitable as donors because their metabolism is similar to that of humans.

In the United States, in the 1980s, a doctor implanted a baboon heart in a doomed newborn with a dysfunctional heart.

The girl only survived a few weeks.

According to Denner, the survival record for a baboon with a pig heart in Germany is 195 days.

The pig for the transplant in Baltimore was bred by a US company.

The stalls, which are strictly sealed off and monitored, now house only a few pigs.

However, if further progress is made, the demand could increase sharply in the coming years and decades.

Finally, other organs such as kidneys and islet cells that produce insulin could also be used for transplantation.

kry/dpa

Source: spiegel

All tech articles on 2022-02-06

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