Pigs saves lives - 28th January 2022

A 57 year old man in the US has received a pig's heart.

Doctors at the University of Maryland Medical School did this important surgery, which is a major success for medical research. This is a promising solution to the current lack of organs.

Dr Bartley Griffith carried out the surgery.

Bartley Griffith: "The driver for all this was to provide an opportunity for patients with end-stage heart disease, who could not either qualify or just didn't get a heart in time, to treat their pretty poor heart function with a transplant."

Patient David Bennett didn't qualify for human heart replacement due to his poor health. But now, with the pig heart, he's recovering well. However, doctors are watching him closely.

One of the directors at the University of Maryland Medical School, Muhammad Mohiuddin is excited about the results so far.

Muhammad Mohiuddin: "We are all very excited to see this pig heart beating in this human. That pig heart has performed so far very well even beyond our expectations. We have not seen any signs of rejection."

The heart came from a pig which was genetically modified. Scientists removed four genes from the pig and put in 6 human genes. They wanted to make sure the heart was suitable for the human body.

Pig organs are excellent for humans due to their size and their speedy growth.

Muhammad Mohiuddin thinks that this is great news for patients who need organs and that it will save thousands of lives.

Muhammad Mohiuddin: "We'll have these organs available, we can, you know, we have the technique of genetically modifying. So, if there's more tweaking required for modifying the genes, we will be able to do that, and you know, can customise, basically, the heart for all the organs for the patient."