Earlier this summer, NYU Langone doctors were able to successfully transplant pig hearts into two recently dead humans. The medical team performed the procedures on June 16 and July 6, using special genetically modified pig hearts to be more acceptable for transplantation into a human body. Both bodies were donated by recently deceased people and placed in fan support so that the effectiveness of the pig’s hearts could be measured more accurately.
The study comes when the field of xenotransplantation, or the act of transferring organs from one species to another, is under greater scrutiny. The first person to undergo a pig heart transplant died earlier this year, which scientists believe was an adverse reaction to a drug to prevent rejection. The heart also contained DNA associated with a pig virus. Since the incident, the medical community has called for more meaningful research on the subject, as well as better safety protocols. Meanwhile, the FDA is considering approving clinical trials for pig heart transplantation in humans, the Wall Street Journal reported last month.
Both human subjects, a 72-year Navy veteran and a 64-year-old retired New York City professor, were monitored for three days before being removed from life support. Neither heart needed any external support and was functioning normally, which researchers see as a promising sign for future research. Despite the positive outcome of the NYU experiment, surgeons warned that much more research is needed before pig heart transplants can be a viable alternative for people with heart disease.
“This is not a unique situation. It will take years to learn what is important and what is not important for this to work,” Dr. Robert Montgomery of NYU told the Associated Press.
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