Pig heart will beat in humans for the first time: 57-year-old patient got genetically modified pig's heart in America, the surgery lasted for 7 hours

US doctors have done a great job of transplanting a genetically modified pig's heart into the body of a 57-year-old man. This historic surgery was done on Friday. Doctors of the University of Maryland Medical gave information about this on Monday. Doctors told that the patient's condition is improving after the surgery which lasted for 7 hours. Although it is too early to say anything about whether this operation was completely successful or not.

David Bennett, who lives in Maryland, was facing heart problems for a long time. As the problem escalated, a plan was made to transplant a pig's heart as the last option. When David Bennett was told about this, he said that there are only two options in front of me, death or transplant. It's like shooting an arrow in the dark, but I want to live.

We are getting new information every day

Dr. Bartley Griffith, who performed the surgery, said that after this surgery, we are getting new information every day. We are very happy with this transplant decision. It's nice to see a smile on the patient's face. However, pig heart valves have also been used successfully for humans for decades.

According to doctors, if this surgery becomes successful then it will be a big miracle in the field of science. Along with this, over the years, it will prove to be a big step in the quest to transplant animal organs into the human body. After the transplant, the pig's heart is working properly. David Bennett is currently on a heart-lung bypass machine. Here a team of doctors is continuously monitoring him. The next few weeks are very important for him.

Why only a pig's heart?

Organ transplant reports suggest that pig hearts are suitable for transplantation into humans, but pig cells contain an alpha-gal sugar cell. The human body does not accept this cell, due to which the patient can also die. To overcome this problem, the first pig was genetically modified.

FDA approved for emergency use

Many biotech companies around the world are developing pig organs for human transplantation. The heart used in this operation also came from Revvicor, a subsidiary of United Therapeutics. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA), which oversees the xenotransplantation experiment, approved the transplant for emergency use.

The baboon's heart was transplanted in 1984

Professor Dr. Muhammad Mohiuddin of the University of Maryland says that if this surgery is successful, then there will be a new light of hope for millions of people. However, when such transplants were done earlier, they were not successful. In 1984, the heart of a baboon (a species of monkey) was transplanted into the body of a child, but that child survived only 21 days after surgery. University Health Officer Dr. David Klaasen said – We can mark this xenotransplantation as a big event, but it is a temporary step.

In America, more than 1 lakh people are waiting for organ transplant

There are about 1.10 lakh people in the US currently awaiting organ transplants. In the US, more than 6000 patients die every year due to a lack of organ transplants. At the same time, according to the United Network for Organ Sharing, more than 3800 recorded heart transplants were performed in the US last year.

Pig kidney transplanted in New York

In September last year, some researchers at the NYU Langone Health Center in New York conducted a similar experiment. In this, doctors temporarily transplanted a pig's kidney into the body of a dead human.

Dr. Robert Montgomery, who led the research team's experiment in New York, says that the transplant done in Maryland has taken our research to the next level. This is a great success. I am suffering from a genetic heart problem, I am very excited after knowing this news.