Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
A Pig's Genes Were Tweaked So A Maryland Man Could Get Its Heart
USA Today: Human Receives Gene-Edited Pig Heart Transplant In Medical Milestone
A Maryland man has lived for three days with a pig heart beating inside his chest. The surgery, at the University of Maryland Medical Center, marks the first time a gene-edited pig has been used as an organ donor. Dave Bennett, 57, agreed to be the first to risk the experimental surgery, hoping it would give him a shot at making it home to his Maryland duplex and his beloved dog, Lucky. “This is nothing short of a miracle,” his son David said Sunday, two days after his father's life-extending surgery. “That’s what my dad needed, and that’s what I feel like he got.” (Weintraub, 1/10)
The New York Times: In A First, Man Receives A Heart From A Genetically Altered Pig
It is the first successful transplant of a pig’s heart into a human being. The eight-hour operation took place in Baltimore on Friday, and the patient, David Bennett Sr. of Maryland, was doing well on Monday, according to surgeons at the University of Maryland Medical Center. “It creates the pulse, it creates the pressure, it is his heart,” said Dr. Bartley Griffith, the director of the cardiac transplant program at the medical center, who performed the operation. “It’s working and it looks normal. We are thrilled, but we don’t know what tomorrow will bring us. This has never been done before.” (Rabin, 1/10)
Stat: First Transplant Of A Pig Heart Into A Person Sparks Ethics Questions
Bennett had terminal heart failure and was too sick to qualify for a human heart transplant or a mechanical assist device, the lead surgeon said. The pig heart, from an animal created by a Virginia biotech company, was the only option to try to prolong his life. “It was either die or do this transplant,” Bennett said in a hospital news release. “I know it’s a shot in the dark, but it’s my last choice.” The groundbreaking procedure raises hopes that animal organs might one day be routinely used for human transplants, which would shorten waiting lists — where thousands of seriously ill people languish and die every year. But it’s also raising a few eyebrows and a lot of questions from bioethicists. (Molteni, 1/10)
