In the news: A first pig heart transplant in a human patient

On Friday, January 7, 2022, American surgeons managed to transplant a pig heart (genetically modified) on a human patient. On Monday, when the University of Maryland Medical School announced the news, the 57-year-old was still alive and his new heart was doing its job well. This 8-hour surgery is really important and impressive for several reasons.

First, there are about 110,000 people waiting for an organ transplant in the United States. Last year, only 41,000 Americans were able to get the long-awaited transplant. Every day, a dozen Americans die on the waiting list, having been unable to receive the gift of life early enough. There is a great shortage of organs in that country, but the situation is the same elsewhere in the world. There are just not enough organs available for the needs.

To avoid these deaths, we must therefore find a way to increase the amount of transplantable organs available. The transplantation of organs from another animal to a human, the xenograft, has been studied since the beginning of the 20th century. One of the problems with this type of transplant is that certain genes present in the DNA of other species create violent reactions in humans who receive one of these organs. This reaction is called hyperacute rejection: in only 30 minutes, the transplanted organ would be destroyed by the body of the human organ recipient. On the other hand, the heart valves of pigs are already widely used in humans, and pig skin can be used to perform grafts on severe burns without rejection.

Last week, in order for the transplant to succeed, they used the heart of a genetically modified pig; 10 different genes were either removed or added to its DNA. In addition, they created a new additional anti-rejection medication to decrease the chances of organ rejection. The operation is for the moment a success: the heart pumps blood, manages pressure, the body hasn’t rejected the organ. There are still many things that can go wrong, but fingers crossed!

Interview with the surgeon in charge of the operation

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A word about the new transplant recipient:

David Bennett Sr., the 57-year-old man with a failing heart, has received approval for his operation from the FDA (Food and Drug Association) because he is too ill to qualify for a human kidney transplant. He was therefore able to access this surgery and the additional medication necessary for this extraordinary adventure through the FDA’s compassion clause. He either tried this and had a slim chance of living, or he was going to die.

Imagine having to make this choice. “Sir, we cannot transplant a human heart to you. On the other hand, we could perhaps try to transplant a heart from another animal, but it has never been done.” His real answer was: “Well, will I oink?”. Humor, the best of de-dramatizers!

What really struck me was what he later said to his surgeon: “I don’t want to die. If I do, maybe you’ll learn something to help others.” David Bennett Sr., I think that attitude is perfect. Well done. Really.

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A word on ethics :

Personally, I do not believe that humans are superior to other animals, which makes me an anti-speciesist. In addition, I have been a vegetarian for 6 years already. A few months ago, a friend sent me an article about a first functional kidney transplant on a brain-dead human (the article is available below), and my first reflex was to be disgusted by the idea. To “grow” pigs that will only serve as spare parts for humans is an idea fundamentally repels me.

I thought about it for a few days, to find out where I really stood on this issue. years ago, I came to the conclusion that, if one day I was going to have to either starve to death or eat an animal, I would eat the animal. I think it’s okay for me to do so since in the first place, the goal for all animals is to survive. So I think that I would accept a kidney from an animal, to be able to survive. I stopped eating animals because I can avoid this fate for these animals, without any risk to my health. But I always told myself that in order to survive, I would eat it again.

For my survival, I think I would. I would hope that the conditions for raising these animals would be better than they are now in the meat industry, since what we want is not a fat pig, but rather a healthy pig. I hope that they would be offered a happy life, as free as possible. Just thinking about what all the wrongs we could do to them, it turns me upside down. But I have the right to survive too, I think. What I would really like is for us to be able to grow functional organs in the laboratory, or to be able to create functional mechanical options. Well, maybe that’s the subject of a article here one day!

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A word about the criminal record of the transplant recipient: Who cares. It’s important to treat everyone, because if you start choosing, where does it stop? A criminal record from 34 years ago is a thing of the past, and it doesn’t count when you have to treat someone, period.

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