APLawrence Faucette and his wife before surgery in September
NOS Nieuws•vandaag, 09:16
The second patient who received a genetically modified pig heart during a heart transplant has died. The University of Maryland Medical Center in Baltimore reports that the American, Lawrence Faucette, died almost six weeks after the operation. He underwent surgery on September 20. He turned 58.
Faucette was the second person ever to receive such a heart. The first patient was 57-year-old David Bennett. He was hospitalized two years ago with a life-threatening heart condition and died two months after becoming the world’s first to receive a genetically modified pig heart.
Bennett’s pig heart turned out to be infected with a pig virus. Faucette died on Monday because his body rejected the pig’s heart, says the hospital. Both patients were not eligible for the transplant of a human donor heart because they were already too seriously ill.
More time together
“We mourn the loss of Mr. Faucette, a remarkable patient, scientist, Navy veteran and family man who simply wanted to spend more time with his wife, sons and family,” said the doctor who performed the transplant.
During the first month there were no signs that the pig’s heart was being rejected. It performed well, the University of Maryland Medical Center reports. The man received physiotherapy and was training to be able to walk again, but later rejection symptoms developed.
His wife said in the run-up to the transplant that they did not have high expectations. They were just hoping for a little more time to “sit on the porch” and drink coffee together, writes The New York Times.
View images of the operation of the first patient, David Bennett, here. He had surgery in January last year:
A pig heart transplanted into a human for the first time
Do something for others
“Mr. Faucette’s dying wish was that we learn as much as possible from our experience so that others can have a chance at a new heart when a human organ is not available. He told the team of doctors and nurses that he loved us. We will miss him enormously.”
Another doctor says he is very grateful to him and his family because they can continue to make progress towards making xenotransplants possible. That is also what Faucette hoped to achieve, his wife said after his death. “He knew his time with us was short and that this was his last chance to do something for others,” she says in a statement.
Xenotransplantation
This involves the transplantation of modified organs from animals to humans and is seen as a promising technique for reducing the shortage of transplant organs. “If this works, it will mean an endless supply of organs for patients,” the transplant program director said before Bennett’s surgery last year.
In 2021, a kidney from a modified pig was also transplanted in New York. The patient who received that organ was a brain-dead patient with kidney failure. Her family agreed to the experiment before she was taken off life support.
Those test results “looked pretty normal” at the time, and the kidney made the amount of urine you would expect from a transplanted human kidney. The experiment was ended after 54 hours by switching off the ventilator, after which the woman died.
2023-11-01 08:16:15
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