Shulou(Shulou.com)11/24 Report--

CTOnews.com, September 24, 22 local time, the University of Maryland Medical Center announced that it had completed the second transplant of a genetically modified pig heart to a patient on September 20, two "historic" operations were performed by faculty and physicians of the University of Maryland School of Medicine and the University of Maryland Medical Center.

According to the agency's press release, the patients who participated in the operation were 58 years old and had suffered from terminal heart disease. The patient recovered well after the operation and was able to communicate with his relatives. He was admitted to hospital on September 14 because he suffered from peripheral vascular disease and internal bleeding complications and did not meet the requirements for a traditional heart transplant.

The University of Maryland Medical Center announced that the patient was now able to breathe on his own and that his heart was working well without any assistance.

Genetically modified pigs that provide the heart have 10 genes edited, three of which are inactivated to eliminate α-gal sugar in pig blood cells, which triggers a severe response in the human immune system, leading to organ rejection. At the same time, scientists also added six human genes to the pig genome to improve the receptivity of the immune system.

▲ source official press release from the University of Maryland Medical Center, as previously reported by CTOnews.com, the team of the University of Maryland School of Medicine performed the world's first genetically modified pig heart transplant on a male patient with advanced heart disease in January last year. The patient responded well one week after the transplant and there was no acute rejection. The patient was able to detach from ECMO (extracorporeal membrane oxygenation) and began to walk on the ground one day ago. However, his condition suddenly deteriorated in early March of that year and eventually passed away.

According to iamexpat earlier this year, heart surgeons at a hospital in Munich said they believed it would be feasible to replace human hearts with pig hearts in the next two years.

Bruno Reichter, a Munich heart surgeon and head of the university hospital research team, said: "We are in the final stage of our research. Using genetically modified pigs from New Zealand, the team has successfully tested every part of the operation. Some basic elements are still being optimized."

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