On January 7, David Bennett, a 57-year-old patient with advanced heart disease, made his last attempt to receive a pig heart transplant, the first patient in history to undergo a pig heart transplant.
Two months later, on the afternoon of March 8, Bennett died at the University of Maryland Medical Center (UMMC).
On March 9, local time, the University of Maryland Medical Center released an obituary on its official website. Doctors have not yet given the exact cause of Bennett's death, but the details mentioned are: a few days ago his condition began to deteriorate. After learning that he could not recover, he underwent palliative care. In the last hours of his life, he was able to communicate with his family.
This is the scene of a transplant surgery filmed at the University of Maryland Medical Center in Baltimore, USA, on Jan. 7. Xinhua News Agency/Reuters
According to reports, in the heart transplant surgery performed in January, the pigs used were genetically modified, "knocked out" to cause human rejection of the gene, and a specific gene to prevent the excessive growth of pig heart tissue implanted in the human body.
This undated photo is of a heart patient, David Bennett (right), with a doctor before undergoing a swine heart transplant. Xinhua News Agency/Reuters
According to the University of Maryland Medical Center, Bennett first visited the center last October and was bedridden, relying on extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO), an in vitro life support system. His condition was unsuitable for a routine heart transplant. Prior to receiving a swine heart transplant, Bennett was fully informed of the risks of transplant surgery, which was experimental and had unknown risks and benefits.
In the weeks after the operation, Bennett's transplanted heart functioned well and showed no signs of rejection, the center said. He lived with his family and received physical therapy to help him regain strength until Bennett's condition began to deteriorate a few days ago.
Bennett's surgeon, Bartley Griffiths, said Bennett had been battling the disease until the end. This operation provides researchers with valuable information that is expected to help doctors better perform transplants and help save future patients undergoing surgery.
Mohammed Maushedin, professor of surgery at the University of Maryland School of Medicine and director of the Heart Xenotransplant Program, said researchers have gained valuable information through Bennett's surgery and plan to continue clinical trials in the future.
The New York Times reports that xenotransplantation offers new hope for thousands of patients with kidney, heart and other organ diseases, as the number of donated human organs cannot meet the needs of these patients waiting for an organ transplant.
Bennett reportedly said the day before the surgery: "Either die or have a transplant." It was my last resort. Although Bennett's life lasted only 2 months longer, his family also said: "Hopefully this is a beginning, not an end." ”
Source: Compiled from Xinhua News Agency, China Youth Daily (ID: zqbcyol)
Editor-in-charge: Wang Lulu
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