Surgeons transplanted a genetically modified pig heart into a human for the second time ever, and the recipient is continuing to recover more than three weeks later
Late last month a team of researchers at the University of Maryland School of Medicine transplanted a genetically modified pig heart into a person—the second such surgery ever attempted—and it has kept him alive for the past few weeks. The patient, 58-year-old Lawrence Faucette, underwent the highly experimental procedure under a “compassionate use” pathway, in which the U.S.
In the past couple of years, pig xenotransplants have been tested in both nonhuman primates and deceased humans—but the ultimate goal is to conduct human clinical trials on a bigger scale. The results of the recent compassionate use transplant will likely influence the FDA’s consideration of whether and when to allow such trials to take place. Many researchers hope this could happen in the next year or two.
“We took a pretty good swing at the ball the first time, and we got very close to a prolonged success, we think,” Griffith says. There were some unforeseen circumstances in that first xenotransplant that may have affected its result, such as the pig virus that was later found in the heart, Griffith adds. Since then his team and others have developed better methods to test for these viruses.
Other researchers agree that Faucette was a more appropriate candidate for such a novel procedure. “My overall feeling is that this patient was in much better shape than the previous patient,” says Nader Moazami, a cardiothoracic transplant surgeon at NYU Langone Health, who was not involved in Faucette’s transplant.
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