His doctors at the University at Maryland School of Medicine say that Faucette appears to be doing well and that his new heart is functioning as expected. However, time will tell whether the team has avoided the stumbles that might have contributed to the death of their first patient last year, David Bennett, just two months after he received his transplant.Animal-to-human transplantation, or xenotransplantation, has been a long-sought-after goal in the transplant medicine field.
In recent years, however, some scientists believe that they’ve made a giant leap forward in making xenotransplantation a viable reality. By tweaking a few genes in pigs, they theorize that it’s possible to make their organs human-like enough for transplantation to work. Perhaps the most important change is the knocking out of a gene responsible for producing alpha-gal, a sugar found in the muscles of most mammals, but not humans .
Like Bennett, Faucette has been diagnosed with terminal heart disease and is not considered eligible to receive a traditional heart transplant. Despite the possible risks, Faucette agreed to undergo the procedure, which took place on September 20. As of the middle of last week, his doctors say Faucette has been breathing on his own and that his new heart is working well without the need for supportive devices.
The team notes that there are several lessons they have learned from their experiences with David Bennett, who appeared to be doing well at first but rapidly declined in health and
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