Pig heart transplanted to human for the first time

[phoenix2020]

Articles:

Pig heart transplanted to human for the first time

Transplant is "compassionate use" rather than part of a clinical trial.

arstechnica.com

Maryland surgeons successfully transplant pig heart into human patient

Dr. Bartley Griffith transplanted a pig heart into David Bennett, who knew there was no guarantee the experiment would work but was willing to try.

nypost.com

Comments:

I suppose this was only a matter of time! The idea of genetic engineering to improve biocompatibility is quite fascinating. At first blush, I couldn't think of any major ethical or moral concerns, however I wonder how this technology, fully realized, will contribute to what I imagine is our "evolution" away from evolution itself and toward controlled modification and augmentation of our species. All interesting stuff...

 

[Indlib]

Articles:

Pig heart transplanted to human for the first time

Transplant is "compassionate use" rather than part of a clinical trial.

arstechnica.com

Maryland surgeons successfully transplant pig heart into human patient

Dr. Bartley Griffith transplanted a pig heart into David Bennett, who knew there was no guarantee the experiment would work but was willing to try.

nypost.com

Comments:

I suppose this was only a matter of time! The idea of genetic engineering to improve biocompatibility is quite fascinating. At first blush, I couldn't think of any major ethical or moral concerns, however I wonder how this technology, fully realized, will contribute to what I imagine is our "evolution" away from evolution itself and toward controlled modification and augmentation of our species. All interesting stuff...

Kramer was right all along...

 

[Johnny Baxter]

Well it was done as a life-saving procedure, so no complaints here.

 

[reflechissez]

Well it was done as a life-saving procedure, so no complaints here.

What transplants are NOT live-saving procedures?

 

[MaryP]

I'm really sorry, but all I can think of is,

 

[Bum]

This has come a long way since baby Faye...I would like to know more about the genetic modifications.

 

[MaryP]

He's still alive.

 

[Court Jester]

Sounds like the patient consented on being a guinea pig to see if this would work.

Sad thing is that he will be dead in short order as his body rejects this organ, when he could have lived out his last few weeks or days in peace with his family around him to say goodbye.

 

[phoenix2020]

An interesting twist on this story: the criminal history of the patient / recipient.

He once stabbed a man seven times. Now he's a pig heart transplant pioneer.

Leslie Shumaker Downey was at home babysitting her two grandchildren Monday when a message pinged on her cellphone. Her daughter had sent a link to a news article about a 57-year-old man with terminal heart disease. Three days earlier at the University of Maryland Medical Center, he'd received a...

www.yahoo.com

 

[Lloyd Christmas]

Sounds like the patient consented on being a guinea pig to see if this would work.

Sad thing is that he will be dead in short order as his body rejects this organ, when he could have lived out his last few weeks or days in peace with his family around him to say goodbye.

What are you talking about Why do people insist on posting dumb shit they know nothing about.

You know how brutal heart failure is? Drowning in your own fluids because your body can't pump the fluids out in time? enjoy his last day? there is no enjoyment final days of heart failure. This was his last chance to live. He had nothing to lose, and could actually help justify future use

 

[Grand Mal]

Sounds like the patient consented on being a guinea pig to see if this would work.

Sad thing is that he will be dead in short order as his body rejects this organ, when he could have lived out his last few weeks or days in peace with his family around him to say goodbye.

Might not be rejected. There was genetic manipulation involved to hopefully prevent it.

 

[Court Jester]

What are you talking about Why do people insist on posting dumb shit they know nothing about.

You know how brutal heart failure is? Drowning in your own fluids because your body can't pump the fluids out in time? enjoy his last day? there is no enjoyment final days of heart failure. This was his last chance to live. He had nothing to lose, and could actually help justify future use

What makes you think I don't know anything about organ transplants?

But I don't agree that he had nothing to lose. When assessing risk vs reward, the risk in this case would be after he is taken off the heart lung machine (which he still on while his body heals from the surgery), then how fast his body may begin to reject the organ. If that happens---- and we could assume a very good likelihood of it being WHEN it happens--- then his family will go through the agony of watching him go while on tubes and machines, rather than a more dignified good bye.

It all comes down to what kind of death people prefer to have. My philosophy is that we are all dying anyway, so embrace that reality sooner than later.

 

[Court Jester]

Might not be rejected. There was genetic manipulation involved to hopefully prevent it.

Not saying I don't hope it works. I'm just saying that I don't think I would want be the experimental patient.

 

[Grand Mal]

Not saying I don't hope it works. I'm just saying that I don't think I would want be the experimental patient.

I sure as hell wouldn't want to be in that position. Real tough call.
I Googled it- the first heart transplant patient lived 18 days and died of pneumonia, probably from his immune system being compromised by the anti-rejection drugs. The second one lived for a year and a half.

 

[Court Jester]

I sure as hell wouldn't want to be in that position. Real tough call.
I Googled it- the first heart transplant patient lived 18 days and died of pneumonia, probably from his immune system being compromised by the anti-rejection drugs. The second one lived for a year and a half.

Heart transplants do much better now with better anti rejection medications, and better management. But a heart transplant is just substituting one kind of terminal condition for another one.

 

[phoenix2020]

Not saying I don't hope it works. I'm just saying that I don't think I would want be the experimental patient.

That is your choice to make.

He made a different choice.

 

[Ishm]

Read an interesting article on this topic recently. Some company in New Zealand is doing this type of genetic engineering for transplants etc. The article said that some of the bigger complexity is to engineer out the viruses that exist in modern pigs, so they recovered a herd of pigs that were released on some island down by Antarctica 200 years ago to be food for anyone shipwrecked there. Whalers I assume. Seems these pigs have very few viruses after nearly 200 years of isolation, hence the genetic engineering is easier.

Can't see too many issues with this technology if it actually works properly. No more human organ harvesting as is suspected to be happening in some countries.

 

[Court Jester]

That is your choice to make.

He made a different choice.

I wish him luck, and will offer my condolences to his widow in the near future.

 

[Grand Mal]

Heart transplants do much better now with better anti rejection medications, and better management. But a heart transplant is just substituting one kind of terminal condition for another one.

Well, life is a terminal condition, but if you said people are starting to live too long I'd have a hard time arguing with you.

 

[RAMOSS]

It just doesn't seem quite kosher to me.

 

[jamesrage]

Articles:

Pig heart transplanted to human for the first time

Transplant is "compassionate use" rather than part of a clinical trial.

arstechnica.com

Maryland surgeons successfully transplant pig heart into human patient

Dr. Bartley Griffith transplanted a pig heart into David Bennett, who knew there was no guarantee the experiment would work but was willing to try.

nypost.com

Comments:

I suppose this was only a matter of time! The idea of genetic engineering to improve biocompatibility is quite fascinating. At first blush, I couldn't think of any major ethical or moral concerns, however I wonder how this technology, fully realized, will contribute to what I imagine is our "evolution" away from evolution itself and toward controlled modification and augmentation of our species. All interesting stuff...

I'll wait until this guy lives as long or almost as long as other human heart transplant patients before celebrating this. If he lives just as long as human heart transplant patients then this will be a huge advance in transplants.

 

[KevinKohler]

It just doesn't seem quite kosher to me.

I wonder what the Muslim response will be?

 

[longview]

I think my concern would be that a normal pig will die of old age after about 16 years, about the same as a dog.
That means the heart might not have decades of use built into it.