Scientific American is the essential guide to the most awe-inspiring advances in science and technology, explaining how they change our understanding of the world and shape our lives. It was a last-ditch effort to save Maryland man’s life
Doctors have transplanted the heart from a genetically modified pig into the chest of a man from Maryland in a last-ditch effort to save his life. The first-of-its-kind surgery is being hailed as a major step forward in the decades-long effort to successfully transplant animal organs into humans. Although it’s been tried before—one of the earliest subjects, known as Baby Fae, survived 21 days with a baboon’s heart in 1984, according to Time —the practice has fallen into disuse because the animal organs are usually quickly rejected by their human host. But doctors say this new transplant is a breakthrough because the donor pig had undergone gene-editing to remove a specific type of sugar from its cells that’s thought to be responsible for previous organ rejections in patients. The surgery took place on Friday (Jan.7), and after four days the human patient is breathing on his own, although he is still connected to a heart- lung machine to strengthen his blood circulation, according to a statement from the University of Maryland Medical Center (UMMC). The next days and weeks will be critical to whether he survives the operation. The man,57-year-old David Bennett from Maryland, has terminal heart disease, but several medical centers had determined that he was ineligible for a human transplant, the statement said. “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 the day before his surgery.
