David Bennett had no alternative: to die or accept a type of transplant that had never been done before. He chose the second option and today this 57-year-old American is The world’s first man with a pig’s heart genetically modified.

desperate circumstances

Three days after the operation, doctors performed itUniversity of Maryland Medical Center In Baltimore, he’s fine, breathing on his own and hoping to continue living his life, even if it’s too early to make predictions at the moment. Doctors got special permission from US regulatory authorities to put this new procedure into practice precisely because the patient had no chance of survival: in the six weeks before the transplant, he was unconscious and was connected to machines. He was alive after being diagnosed with a terminal heart disease. In these cases, doctors do not perform a traditional organ transplant from a donor, due to Double the patient’s chance of survivalSo they suggested using one xenotrapianto (specifically with an animal organ).

Technique used

A first step toward solving the problem of organ deficiency, commented Bartley Griffiths, one of the surgeons who performed the surgery. For some time, researchers have been following the path of genetic manipulation of the organs of pigs (the animal closest to humans due to the characteristics of its immune system, to the point that pig heart valves to be implanted into humans), today manipulation is made easier thanks to the new technology of DNA cutting and suturing (CRISPR, we talked about it here, editor) Which allows to eliminate those genes, typical of the pig, that are able to provoke rejection in the recipient patient. As early as last October, a surgeon from New York University LangoneLed by Robert Montgomery, They had pig kidney ligationgenetically modified, for a patient with a very serious and artificially viable renal malformation. After the surgery, the kidneys started working, with no signs of rejection: Doctors monitored kidney function for 54 hours before pulling the tampon on the already brain-dead woman.