Pig Heart transplant

by Erin Guo

Photo by People

The first-ever pig to human heart transplant was done last week at the University of Maryland Medical Center (UMMC). The 57-year-old patient David Bennet’s only option to survive was a pig heart because he had terminal heart disease and was not eligible for a traditional transplant.

The pig heart was bred and gene-edited for his transplant. Three days after the transplant, Bennet is still doing well, and UMMC officials say that the heart is functioning as a human heart without immediate rejection from the body. Bennet is also breathing on his own though he needs an ECMO machine to pump blood through his body, and his doctors are planning to slowly reduce its use.

This is an incredible breakthrough for xenotransplantation and the medical and bioengineering community. More than 100,000 people are waiting for an organ transplant, according to the United Network for Organ Sharing, while about only 41,000 organ transplants were performed in 2021. This could bring in a new era of solid organ transplantation and give hope to many in need of organs.