last month January 2022 The first successful transplant of a pig’s heart into a human took place. The patient was a very ill person for whom this new procedure was your last letter. And at first it was a very well played card, but, unfortunately, after a few weeks the situation worsened and ended in the worst possible way, with his death in early March. Death was a mystery, apart from the extremely deteriorating state of the patient’s health. However, we now know that there was a factor that could have led to the fatal outcome: the donor pig infected with a virus.
This is about porcine cytomegalovirusAs explained in an article published in MIT Technology Overview. As a rule, it is not dangerous for these animals, which usually do not cause anything other than rhinitis. It also poses no danger to the people they interact with. However, if you are in pig heart which is transplanted to a person with very poor health, it can be dangerous.
In addition, it is difficult to find, as it is located latent in pigsso goes unnoticed for some of the common detection methods. This is why the scientists who performed the pig-to-human heart transplant were unaware of the infection. We now know that the presence of this virus could be partly responsible for patient death. But it is impossible to know if he would have died anyway without him. At the very least, we already know that future attempts to uncover hidden stowaways like this one need more extensive testing.
The virus that marred the first successful pig heart transplant
David Bennett57 years old, was hospitalized for six weeks for serious arrhythmia when his doctors got permission to transplant a pig’s heart.
was not entitled to human heart. In addition, his position was too delicate to wait for a compatible organ. He would die sooner, so his only hope for life was to undergo this delicate and innovative procedure. He, too, was sure of it, and therefore did not hesitate.
The patient was immunocompromised, so the virus, although generally mild, could have seriously affected him.
These types of methods have been under study for many years. There were even several previous attempts, but all to no avail. Now the process is much more difficult as the pigs in question genetically modified to avoid rejection their transplanted organs. In addition, a pharmacological mixture based on substances such as cortisol, adrenaline and cocaine is used, which prolongs the viability of the pig’s heart until the time of transplantation. All of this resulted in Bennett leaving the operation alive. maybe even spend time with family and start with rehabilitation to gradually restore strength.
But six weeks then things went wrong and the patient died. The reasons were not initially disclosed. Not because of the occult, but rather because they were obscure. His health condition worsened, but why?
Finally, one of the surgeons who performed the intervention, Bartley Griffith, uncovered a cytomegalovirus infection at a transplant seminar in April. He explained that it is not clear if the virus was the cause or just another fuel for an already blazing fire.
It should be remembered that, despite genetic modifications heart donation pig, Bennett also had to take immunosuppressants to prevent organ rejection. This made him much more vulnerable to possible infections. One could try to protect it from external pathogens, but in fact there was already one in the pig’s heart that went unnoticed. It’s mild, but not much for a patient in your condition.
This is sad news, but it gives new information to try not to repeat the same mistake in future interventions. Despite the result, it has never gone as far as this patient, so there is reason to hope that another patient may soon get a pig’s heart and live for many years to tell about it.
Source: Hiper Textual
