fbpx
Advertisement
  • Home
  • World News
    Elon Musk Sells Nearly $7bn In Tesla Stock

    Elon Musk Sells Nearly $7bn In Tesla Stock

    China scraps cooperation with US over Taiwan spat

    China scraps cooperation with US over Taiwan spat

    China begins major Taiwan military drills after Pelosi visit 

    China begins major Taiwan military drills after Pelosi visit 

    27 Chinese warplanes enter Taiwan’s Air Defence Zone: Taipei

    27 Chinese warplanes enter Taiwan’s Air Defence Zone: Taipei

    China vows ‘punishment’ as Pelosi visits Taiwan

    China vows ‘punishment’ as Pelosi visits Taiwan

  • Politics
    • All
    • Politics Roundup
    Conducting 2023 elections’ll be wasteful exercise – NADECO

    Conducting 2023 elections’ll be wasteful exercise – NADECO

    Wike pays Atiku visit in Abuja

    Atiku-Wike spat won’t tear PDP apart – Ex-chair Baraje

    2023: APC announces Lalong Presidential Campaign DG, Keyamo spokesman

    Being Catholic, I’m proud to lead APC’s Muslim-Muslim ticket campaign – Lalong

    Tinubu group to Peter Obi: Caution your supporters, falsehood won’t win election

    Tinubu group to Peter Obi: Caution your supporters, falsehood won’t win election

    Sen Nnamani abhors burning of police stations, INEC offices

    2023: ‘Tinubu hardest working Politico of this generation’ —Senator Nnamani

    • Politics Roundup
  • Business
    • All
    • Exclusive Economy
    University asks intellectuals to advance innovative technology

    Beware of Ponzi scheme institutions, NDIC warns Nigerians

    Nigeria spends $2.35bn on phone importation – Report

    Nigeria spends $2.35bn on phone importation – Report

    Nigeria to start printing Gambia currency

    Debt servicing to hit N10.43tn, economists slam FG

    FIRS tasks govs on alternative income sources, says crude oil future uncertain

    Taxes cushion oil revenue slump as FIRS grows collections

    FG to establish aerospace university to tackle aviation challenges

    Nigeria Air gets FEC approval to start operation with lease aircraft

    • Exclusive Economy
  • Health
    COVID-19: WHO experts to visit Thursday, says China

    160m Nigerians at risk of contracting yellow fever —WHO

    A’Ibom records 14 new cases of COVID-19

    A’Ibom records 14 new cases of COVID-19

    Bayelsa SDGs lifts 3,000 residents with medical outreaches

    Bayelsa SDGs lifts 3,000 residents with medical outreaches

    Bayelsa, Cuba Consortium sign MoU on vaccines, pharmaceuticals factory

    Bayelsa, Cuba Consortium sign MoU on vaccines, pharmaceuticals factory

    COVID-19 cases jump by 67% in two weeks

    COVID-19 cases jump by 67% in two weeks

  • Entertainment
    • All
    • Big Brother Naija
    • Film
    Kizz Daniel: I’ve forsaken smoking ‘cos of my children

    Kizz Daniel apologises to Tanzania fans, promises free show 

    Tanzanian police release Kizz Daniel from custody 

    Tanzanian police release Kizz Daniel from custody 

    Singer Kizz Daniel arrested in Tanzania 

    Singer Kizz Daniel arrested in Tanzania 

    BBNaija: Christy O, Cyph evicted as Biggie introduces new housemates

    BBNaija: Christy O, Cyph evicted as Biggie introduces new housemates

    BBNaija: Beauty disqualified after two strikes

    BBNaija: Beauty disqualified after two strikes

  • Sport
    Qatar World Cup to start a day early on November 20 –Sources

    Qatar World Cup to start a day early on November 20 –Sources

    CAF Confederations Cup: Kwara United, Remo Stars drawn in group stage qualifiers

    CAF Confederations Cup: Kwara United, Remo Stars drawn in group stage qualifiers

    2022 CAF Awards: Simon, Amoo get nominations as CAF releases men’s nominees list

    CAF Champions League: Rivers United, Plateau United on tricky route to group stage 

    Timo Werner rejoins RB Leipzig on €30m transfer from Chelsea 

    Timo Werner rejoins RB Leipzig on €30m transfer from Chelsea 

    Serena Williams announces retirement from tennis

    Serena Williams announces retirement from tennis

  • Editorial
    2023: Crack in Buhari, Tinubu camps widens

    DON’T WEAR BUHARI’S BABARIGA ON TINUBU

    Awoyinfa at 70

    FIRS tasks govs on alternative income sources, says crude oil future uncertain

    Taxes cushion oil revenue slump as FIRS grows collections

    What’s the worth of Obasanjo’s endorsement?

    What’s the worth of Obasanjo’s endorsement?

    Hurray, FirstNews Online clocks two!

    Hurray, FirstNews Online clocks two!

    • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
    • All
    • Art
    • Beauty and wellness
    • Culture
    • Fashion and Style
    • Food
    • Love & relationship
    • Travel
    You want to live long? Get a second wife, study says

    You want to live long? Get a second wife, study says

    Yewa Paramount Ruler installs Odunaro Majeobaje Olu Ilaro Saturday

    Yewa Paramount Ruler installs Odunaro Majeobaje Olu Ilaro Saturday

    Ogun Eid-il-Fitr special prayers in pictures

    Ogun Eid-il-Fitr special prayers in pictures

    Nigeria’s deadly marriages: How 49 husbands, wives were killed in 15 months

    Nigeria’s deadly marriages: How 49 husbands, wives were killed in 15 months

    US hints on new Lassa fever vaccine trial in Nigeria, Liberia, Sierra Leone

    US govt praises documentation of Osun Osogbo Sacred Groove

    10th Coronation Anniversary: Yewa Christians, Muslims hold special services for Olu Ilaro

    10th Coronation Anniversary: Yewa Christians, Muslims hold special services for Olu Ilaro

    Climate Change: Lagos launches Trees From Art campaign in schools

    Climate Change: Lagos launches Trees From Art campaign in schools

    Crescent Varsity celebrates philanthropist, Osula-Atu

    Crescent Varsity celebrates philanthropist, Osula-Atu

    Putin will meet his end sooner than later —Primate Ayodele

    Putin will meet his end sooner than later —Primate Ayodele

    Gabon is walking the talk with conservation!

    Gabon is walking the talk with conservation!

    • Travel
    • Pop culture
      Nigeria’s tech industry: where are the women?

      Nigeria’s tech industry: where are the women?

      Big Brother Naija: What 8 Nigerians think about this controversial show

      Big Brother Naija: What 8 Nigerians think about this controversial show

      nigerian youth

      A Simple Guide to Being an Angry Nigerian Youth

      Big brother naija

      Big Brother Naija Lockdown Reunion: A Recipe for Embarrassment

      chimamanda

      What Chimamanda Adichie’s Essay Says about Social Media Performativity and Conformity

      united african republic

      United African Republic: What is in a Name?

      Twitter is our 911: The Myth of Democracy in Nigeria

      Twitter is our 911: The Myth of Democracy in Nigeria

      THE COVID-19 SERIES

      Tech in Nigeria? Please

      Tech in Nigeria? Please

    • Love & relationship
    • Food
    • Fashion and Style
    • Culture
    • Beauty and wellness
    • Art
No Result
View All Result
No Result
View All Result
Home World

US surgeons transplant PIG heart into man in world’s first operation

by FirstNews
January 11, 2022
in World
Reading Time: 7min read
0
US surgeons transplant PIG heart into man in world’s first operation
Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

Doctors in the US have transplanted a genetically modified pig heart into a dying patient in a world-first. 

RelatedPosts

Elon Musk Sells Nearly $7bn In Tesla Stock

China scraps cooperation with US over Taiwan spat

China begins major Taiwan military drills after Pelosi visit 

David Bennett, 57, underwent the nine-hour experimental procedure at the University of Maryland Medical Center in Baltimore on Saturday. 

Surgeons used a heart from a pig that had undergone gene-editing to remove sugar in its cells that would have increased the risk of his body rejecting it. 

Mr Bennet is breathing on his own while still connected to a heart-lung machine to help his new heart pump blood around his body. 

Experts say it is too soon to know if his body will fully accept the organ and the next few weeks will be critical as he is weaned off the machine. 

But, if successful, it would mark a medical breakthrough and could save thousands of lives in the US alone each year. 

Mr Bennett, a labourer, knew there was no guarantee the operation would work but had terminal heart failure and was too sick to qualify for a human transplant. 

A day before his surgery, Mr Bennet said it was ‘either die or do this transplant’, adding: ‘I want to live. I know it’s a shot in the dark, but it’s my last choice.’ 

There is a huge shortage of human organs donated for transplant in the US, driving scientists to try to figure out how to use animal organs instead. 

Nearly 120,000 Americans are in need of healthy organs and on average 20 people die each day waiting for one to become available. 

Last year, there were just over 3,800 heart transplants in the US, a record number, according to the United Network for Organ Sharing (Unos), which oversees the nation’s transplant system. 

But prior attempts at such transplants – or xenotransplantation – have failed, largely because patients’ bodies rapidly rejected the animal organ. Notably, in 1984, Baby Fae a dying infant, lived 21 days with a baboon heart. 

Dr Bartley Griffith, the director of the cardiac transplant program at the medical center, who performed the operation, said he first broached the experimental treatment in mid-December. 

He said it was a ‘memorable’ and ‘pretty strange’ conversation. 

‘I said, ‘We can’t give you a human heart; you don’t qualify. But maybe we can use one from an animal, a pig,’ Dr. Griffith said. 

‘It’s never been done before, but we think we can do it. 

‘I wasn’t sure he was understanding me,’ Dr. Griffith added. 

‘Then he said, ‘Well, will I oink?’ 

Bennett, who has spent the last several months bedridden on a heart-lung bypass machine, said: ‘I look forward to getting out of bed after I recover.’ 

His prognosis is uncertain. 

On Monday, Bennett was breathing on his own while still connected to a heart-lung machine to help his new heart. 

The next few weeks will be critical as Bennett recovers from the surgery and doctors carefully monitor how his heart is faring. 

Bennett, who has been relatively healthy most of his life, began having severe chest pains in October, his son said. 

He went into the University of Maryland Medical Center with severe fatigue and shortness of breath. 

‘He couldn’t climb three steps,’ said David, a physical therapist who understood the seriousness of his father’s condition. 

Griffith told the New York Times: ‘It creates the pulse, it creates the pressure, it is his heart. 

‘It’s working and it looks normal. We are thrilled, but we don’t know what tomorrow will bring us. This has never been done before.’ 

Griffith said the patient’s condition – heart failure and an irregular heartbeat – made him ineligible for a human heart transplant or a heart pump. 

Bennett also failed to qualify for the waitlist for human heart transplants because he had not followed doctors’ orders, missed medical appointments and discontinued prescribed medications. 

There is a huge shortage of human organs donated for transplant, driving scientists to try to figure out how to use animal organs instead. 

The difference this time: The Maryland surgeons used a heart from a pig that had undergone gene-editing to remove a sugar in its cells that is responsible for that hyper-fast organ rejection. 

Several biotech companies are developing pig organs for human transplant; the one used for Friday’s operation came from Revivicor, a subsidiary of United Therapeutics. 

Pigs offer advantages over primates for organ procurements, because they are easier to raise and achieve adult human size in six months. 

‘I think you can characterize it as a watershed event,’ said Dr. David Klassen, UNOS’ chief medical officer, of the Maryland transplant. 

Klassen cautioned that it is only a first tentative step into exploring whether this time around, xenotransplantation might finally work. 

The Food and Drug Administration, which oversees such experiments, allowed the surgery under what is called a ‘compassionate use’ emergency authorization, available when a patient with a life-threatening condition has no other options. 

The hospital and academic institution would not reveal the cost of the procedure but took care of fees not covered by insurance. 

It will be crucial to share the data gathered from this transplant before extending it to more patients, said Karen Maschke, a research scholar at the Hastings Center, who is helping develop ethics and policy recommendations for the first clinical trials under a grant from the National Institutes of Health. 

‘Rushing into animal-to-human transplants without this information would not be advisable,’ Maschke said. 

Over the years, scientists have turned from primates to pigs, tinkering with their genes. 

Last September, researchers in New York performed an experiment suggesting these kinds of pigs might offer promise for animal-to-human transplants. 

Doctors temporarily attached a pig’s kidney to a deceased human body and watched it begin to work. 

The Maryland transplant takes their experiment to the next level, said Dr. Robert Montgomery, who led that work at NYU Langone Health. 

‘This is a truly remarkable breakthrough,’ he said in a statement. 

‘As a heart transplant recipient, myself with a genetic heart disorder, I am thrilled by this news and the hope it gives to my family and other patients who will eventually be saved by this breakthrough.’ 

Montgomery and his New York team kept the body functioning via machine for more than two days each time, showing that the human immune system would not immediately reject a kidney from a gene-edited pig. 

In Bennett’s case, the pig whose heart was implanted had 10 genetic modifications. 

Four genes were inactivated, including one that encodes a molecule that causes an aggressive human rejection response. 

A growth gene was also inactivated to prevent the pig’s heart from continuing to grow after it was implanted. 

In addition, six human genes were inserted into the genome of the donor pig — modifications designed to make the porcine organs more tolerable to the human immune system. 

The surgery last Friday took seven hours at the Baltimore hospital. 

An additional complication has been that simply putting a heart on ice, as is done with a human heart, doesn’t work in between-species transplants. 

A German team figured out a method of perfusing the heart with nutrients and hormones, to allow the transplant to proceed. 

Griffith had transplanted pig hearts into about 50 baboons over five years, before offering the option to Bennett. 

‘We’re learning a lot every day with this gentleman,’ Griffith said. 

‘And so far, we’re happy with our decision to move forward. And he is as well: Big smile on his face today.’ 

Griffith told USA Today that others sometimes compared him to a shuttle astronaut for his pioneering work – but he rejected the comparison. 

‘You’ve got to tell the patient that in essence, we’re ready for liftoff,’ Griffith said. 

‘But I kept reminding people: we’re in the control room. It’s the patient who’s shot to the moon.’ 

Pig heart valves also have been used successfully for decades in humans, and Bennett’s son said his father had received one about a decade ago. 

As for the heart transplant, ‘He realizes the magnitude of what was done and he really realizes the importance of it,’ David Bennett Jr. said. 

‘He could not live, or he could last a day, or he could last a couple of days. I mean, we’re in the unknown at this point.’ 

Daily Mail

Share201Tweet126Share50
FirstNews

FirstNews

  • Trending
  • Comments
  • Latest
10 most followed Nigerian comedians, skit makers on Instagram, Twitter

10 most followed Nigerian comedians, skit makers on Instagram, Twitter

May 22, 2021
Minors’ viral sex tape: Lagos govt closes Chrisland School indefinitely

Minors’ viral sex tape: Lagos govt closes Chrisland School indefinitely

April 18, 2022
Chief Onyechi bags Doctorate degree from Benin Republic university

Chief Onyechi bags Doctorate degree from Benin Republic university

April 18, 2022
Five benefits of sleeping more

Five benefits of sleeping more

3
Court orders Nnamdi Kanu remand in DSS custody

Court orders Nnamdi Kanu remand in DSS custody

3
No fewer than 109 foreigners from Benin Republic have been arrested by operatives of the Gombe State Police Command for alleged illegal entry into Nigeria.

Police nab kidnappers for trying to abduct lawyers, others

3
Only restructuring can bring progress to Nigeria – Akeredolu

Owo church attack: Why I faulted FG’s claim – Akeredolu

August 10, 2022
Conducting 2023 elections’ll be wasteful exercise – NADECO

Conducting 2023 elections’ll be wasteful exercise – NADECO

August 10, 2022
Insecurity: Buhari sends video/radio broadcast message to Zamfara people

Presidency: Buhari has reversed approval of Seplat Energy, Mobil Producing Oil deal

August 10, 2022
First News NG

Copyright © 2022 First Media Networks Limited

Site Navigation

  • Contact Us
  • About Us
  • Privacy Policy

Follow Us

No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • World News
  • Politics
    • Politics Roundup
  • Business
    • Exclusive Economy
  • Health
  • Entertainment
  • Sport
  • Editorial
    • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
    • Travel
    • Pop culture
    • Love & relationship
    • Food
    • Fashion and Style
    • Culture
    • Beauty and wellness
    • Art

Copyright © 2022 First Media Networks Limited