Lawrence Faucette, the 58-year-old patient with terminal heart disease and the second person to receive a genetically engineered pig heart, died on October 30, according to a statement from the University of Maryland Medical Center in Baltimore, where the transplant took place. executed.
Faucette received the transplant on September 20 and lived for six weeks – less time than the first recipient, despite extra precautions from the Maryland team. Initially, Faucette made progress after his surgery. According to the university, he did physical therapy, spent time with relatives and played cards with his wife. But in the days leading up to his death, his heart began to show signs of organ rejection; in other words, its immune system recognized the pig’s heart as foreign and attacked it. Rejection is also the biggest challenge in traditional transplants involving human organs.
At the University of Maryland Medical Center and elsewhere, researchers have studied the possibility of transplanting animal organs into humans – known as xenotransplantation – as a way to reduce the shortage of human organs. In the United States, more than 103,000 people are on the national transplant waiting list, and 17 people die every day while waiting for an organ. Because donor organs are a scarce resource, doctors want to select patients for transplants who are likely to survive the transplant and do well after surgery.
Faucette was in end-stage heart failure when he first came to the University of Maryland Medical Center on September 14. His heart stopped and he needed CPR, but he was not eligible for a traditional heart transplant because he was too sick. A day later, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration granted him emergency authorization to receive a genetically engineered pig heart in hopes of prolonging his life. Faucette agreed to the procedure after being fully informed of the risks, according to the university.
During the first month of Faucette’s recovery, the pig’s heart performed well without any initial evidence of rejection. Faucette even worked on regaining his ability to walk.
“We plan to conduct a comprehensive analysis to identify factors that can be prevented in future transplants,” Muhammad Mohiuddin, who oversees the university’s xenotransplantation program, said in the statement.
The first person to receive a genetically engineered pig heart, David Bennett, survived for two months after undergoing the groundbreaking procedure in January 2022. He died of sudden heart failure. The Maryland team concluded that Bennett’s poor health before the transplant and a swine virus found in his transplant heart may have contributed to his death.