Mr. Lawrence Fawcett, a 58-year-old resident of Frederick City, Maryland, is the second heart failure patient to receive a genetically modified pig heart transplant at UMMC.
To ensure a higher level of compatibility with humans than regular pig hearts, as well as to ensure that the transplanted heart will not be rejected by the patient’s immune system, both surgeries involve using genetically modified pig hearts. Was used.
The first patient, Mr. David Bennett (57 years old) died of multiple complications 2 months after a heart transplant in 2022. Traces of the virus that causes disease in pigs were also found in his new heart.
When both patients received organ transplants they had end-stage heart disease and had not recovered enough to leave the hospital.
Mr. Lawrence Fawcett, 58, died on October 30, about 6 weeks after a pig heart transplant. Photo: UMMC
Regarding Mr. Bennett’s case, doctors said there were no signs that his body had seriously rejected the transplanted heart. However, he also said that his transplanted heart had started showing some early signs of rejection.
Mr. Muhammad Mohiuddin, scientific director of the heart transplant program at the University of Maryland School of Medicine, said on Oct. 31 that Mr. Fawcett could take care of himself, read and interpret his own biopsies.
Mr. Bartley P. Griffith, who performed Mr. Fawcett’s organ transplant surgery, shared with the newspaper the new York Times She: “Mr Fawcett’s final wish is that we make the most of what we have learned from his experience, thereby ensuring the opportunity for heart transplants for others who do not have a human heart.”
According to a statement from the University of Maryland, following the surgery, the transplanted heart functioned well, showing no signs of rejection in the first month, and Mr. Fawcett was able to undergo physical therapy to regain the ability to walk.
The pig’s heart was transplanted by doctors to Mr. Lawrence Fawcett. Photo: UMMC
Like Mr. Bennet, Mr. Fawcett cannot perform a human heart transplant. He was very weak, suffering from severe heart failure as well as peripheral vascular disease and other complications.
On September 14, he suffered end-stage heart failure when he was admitted to the University of Maryland Medical Center. Just before the surgery, his heart stopped beating and he had to be resuscitated.
