Alleged Cause of Death of Pig Heart Transplant Patient, Expert Explains All

KOMPAS.com – A Maryland man, David Bennett Sr., who survived at least two months with pig heartsuspected to have died from a wild animal virus.

Operation pig heart transplant The world’s first human-to-human treatment was carried out in January, handled by a surgeon who focuses on transplantation at the University of Maryland School of Medicine. Bartley Griffith.

Initially this procedure was considered successful, after the Food and Drug Administration of the United States (US) granted emergency authorization to transplant animal organs into humans.

Read also: First Time, US Man Undergoes Pig Heart Transplant, What Are the Results?

According to the MIT Technology Review, this is a pig heart transplant to human the first to be genetically modified.

Opposition to this type of procedure has often focused on the fact that animal organs can transmit new pathogens to humans.

Prior to the procedure, the pig’s heart was genetically altered in the hope that it would not be rejected by the patient’s immune system. Revvicor, a drug company specializing in regenerative products, provided the transplanted heart.

University of Maryland staff added that the animal had been tested for the virus and porcine cytomegalovirus (pCMV), a virus believed to play a role in the deaths that occurred. The result is that these viruses are not actively detected before the procedure.

For information, Bennett has a terminal heart condition and is not eligible for a human heart transplant, due to a shortage of human organs and previously failing to follow doctor’s orders.

“There is no evidence that the virus causes infection in patients, including infecting any tissues or organs outside the heart. The cause of death of the recipient of the pig heart is still being studied,” said the university.

Read also: German Scientists Will Breed Modified Pigs as Heart Donors for Humans

Alleged cause of death

Most recently, in a study of potential causes, death was presumed to be due to the patient’s advanced heart failure before transplantation.

In addition, there was recorded evidence of the pCMV virus through a special, highly sensitive test.

The university confirmed that the heart had been tested before being sent to Maryland and days before the transplant was carried out.

The measures follow FDA procedures and the pigs are raised in a facility designed to prevent viral infection.

During the first month and a half after the transplant procedure, the recipient was in good health. Test results for the swine virus again after 20 days showed few signs of spreading.

“So we’re starting to think that a virus that emerged so early on day 20 in just a flash started to grow over time and may have triggered all of this,” Griffith wrote.

After 45 days of transplantation, the patient’s health continued to decline. Not long after, the patient who received the pig heart transplant died on March 8, 2022.

Read also: World’s First Pig Heart Transplant Patient Dies

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