Health

Pig heart transplanted into human patient for the second time

Published

3 years ago

September 23, 2023

Surgeons have transplanted a pig’s heart into a dying man in a bid to prolong his life – only the second patient to ever undergo such an experimental feat. Two days later, the man was cracking jokes and able to sit in a chair, Maryland doctors said Friday.

The 58-year-old Navy veteran was facing near-certain death from heart failure but other health problems meant he wasn’t eligible for a traditional heart transplant, according to doctors at University of Maryland Medicine, the Associated Press reported.

“Nobody knows from this point forward. At least now I have hope and I have a chance,” Lawrence Faucette, from Frederick, Maryland, said in a video recorded by the hospital before Wednesday’s operation. “I will fight tooth and nail for every breath I can take.”

While the next few weeks will be critical, doctors were thrilled at Faucette’s early response to the pig organ.

“You know, I just keep shaking my head – how am I talking to someone who has a pig heart?” Dr. Bartley Griffith, who performed the transplant, told The Associated Press. He said doctors are feeling “a great privilege but, you know, a lot of pressure.”

The same Maryland team last year performed the world’s first transplanet of a genetically modified pig heart into another dying man, David Bennett, who survived just two months.

There’s a huge shortage of human organs donated for transplant. Last year, there were just over 4,100 heart transplants in the U.S., a record number but the supply is so tight that only patients with the best chance of long-term survival get offered one.

Attempts at animal-to-human organ transplants have failed for decades, as people’s immune systems immediately destroyed the foreign tissue. Now scientists are trying again using pigs genetically modified to make their organs more humanlike.

Recently, scientists at other hospitals have tested pig kidneys and hearts in donated human bodies, hoping to learn enough to begin formal studies of what are called xenotransplants.

To make this new attempt in a living patient outside of a rigorous trial, the Maryland researchers required special permission from the Food and Drug Administration, under a process reserved for certain emergency cases with no other options.

It took over 300 pages of documents filed with FDA, but the Maryland researchers made their case that they’d learned enough from their first attempt last year – even though that patient died for reasons that aren’t fully understood – that it made sense to try again.

And Faucette, who retired as a lab technician at the National Institutes of Health, had to agree that he understood the procedure’s risks.

In a statement his wife, Ann Faucette, said: “We have no expectations other than hoping for more time together. That could be as simple as sitting on the front porch and having coffee together.”

What’s different this time: Only after last year’s transplant did scientists discover signs of a pig virus lurking inside the heart – and they now have better tests to look for hidden viruses. They also made some medication changes.

Possibly more important, while Faucette has end-stage heart failure and was out of other options, he wasn’t as near death as the prior patient.

By Friday, his new heart was functioning well without any supportive machinery, the hospital said.

“It’s just an amazing feeling to see this pig heart work in a human,” said Dr. Muhammad Mohiuddin, the Maryland team’s xenotransplantation expert. But, he cautioned, “we don’t want to predict anything. We will take every day as a victory and move forward.”

This kind of single-patient “compassionate use” can provide some information about how the pig organ works but not nearly as much as more formal testing, said Karen Maschke, a research scholar at the Hastings Center who is helping develop ethics and policy recommendations for xenotransplant clinical trials. That FDA allowed this second case “suggests that the agency is not ready to permit a pig heart clinical trial to start,” Mashke added.

The pig heart, provided by Blacksburg, Virginia-based Revivicor, has 10 genetic modifications – knocking out some pig genes and adding some human ones to make it more acceptable to the human immune system.

Related Topics:#Pig #Science featured Health Heart US

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Health

Four-day polio vaccination campaign begins across Afghanistan

Published

6 days ago

September 21, 2026

Ariana News

A nationwide polio vaccination campaign got underway across Afghanistan on Monday.

The four-day campaign aims to vaccinate around 12.77 million children under the age of five against polio.

Officials said the campaign is aimed at strengthening protection for children against polio and preventing the spread of the virus.

However, in the southern zone of the country, the polio vaccination campaign will begin one day later, on Tuesday, to ensure better implementation.

According to the information provided, Afghanistan has conducted one nationwide and two sub-national polio vaccination campaigns so far this year. The current campaign is the fourth of the year. In addition, localized campaigns and public awareness programs have also been carried out.

Officials said some environmental samples linked to the polio virus have tested positive. However, the Ministry of Public Health has not so far confirmed any human cases of polio.

According to officials, investigations into suspected cases are ongoing, and information on confirmed human cases will be shared once the assessments are completed and sufficient evidence is available.

Health

Afghanistan faces cancer treatment crisis

Spokesperson for the Ministry of Public Health, said dozens of cancer treatment centers are operating across the country.

Published

2 weeks ago

September 13, 2026

Ariana News

The Afghanistan Cancer Foundation has raised concern over the rising number of cancer cases across the country, saying at least 1.5 million people are currently suffering from the disease.

According to figures released on Saturday, September 11, about 50,000 new cases are recorded annually. The figures are based on data from the Ministry of Public Health and international organizations.

Shafiq Shinwari, head of the Afghan Cancer Foundation, said in a recent interview that breast and uterine cancers are among the most common cancers in women, while lung, stomach, prostate and colon cancers are widespread among men.

He said cancer is the second-leading cause of death in Afghanistan after heart disease.

Cancer specialist Dr. Rahim Gul Darwish identified smoking and tobacco use, poor hygiene and unhealthy diets as major factors contributing to the spread of the disease.

Meanwhile, Sharafat Zaman Amarkhail, spokesperson for the Ministry of Public Health, said dozens of cancer treatment centers are operating across the country. However, he acknowledged serious shortages of modern equipment and facilities needed to provide comprehensive treatment.

The situation has been further aggravated by the departure of hundreds of medical specialists and healthcare workers since the Islamic Emirate returned to power, according to reports.

Afghan patients have also faced growing difficulties accessing treatment abroad. Many previously travelled to Pakistan for cancer care, but border closures and restrictions on Pakistani visas have made access more difficult.

Doctors say cancer patients require continuous treatment and regular specialist care, warning that shortages of facilities and restrictions on cross-border travel are increasing the risks for patients.

Health

Genetically modified pig kidney keeps man alive for record nine months

Published

3 weeks ago

September 4, 2026

Ariana News

A genetically modified pig kidney has kept a 66-year-old man with end-stage kidney disease alive without dialysis for a record nine months, marking the first time a pig kidney has successfully served as a temporary “bridge” to a human kidney transplant.

Tim Andrews, from New Hampshire, was suffering from severe kidney failure caused by type 2 diabetes. Doctors said he had only a 9% chance of receiving a human kidney within five years, while facing a more than 40% risk of dying or being removed from the transplant waiting list.

Tim Andrews preparing for surgery in January 2025

Surgeons at Mass General Brigham in Massachusetts transplanted a kidney from a genetically modified Yucatan miniature pig named Wilma into Andrews in January 2025. The kidney functioned for 271 days, allowing him to remain free of dialysis before it began to fail.

After the pig kidney was removed, Andrews spent several months back on dialysis before receiving a kidney from a deceased human donor. The human kidney was functioning well after six months of follow-up, according to findings published in the medical journal The Lancet.

The transplant represents the longest dialysis-free survival recorded following a pig kidney xenotransplant in a living person. It is also the first documented case in which a patient successfully moved from a pig kidney transplant to a human kidney transplant.

Before the procedure, Wilma’s genome underwent 69 genetic modifications. Some changes were intended to reduce the risk of viruses being transmitted to humans, while others were designed to make the pig kidney more compatible with the human immune system and reduce the risk of rejection.

Andrews described the procedure as a “miracle”, saying it allowed him to return to everyday activities. He said he was able to cook, vacuum and take long walks with his dog.

The development could offer a potential solution to the severe shortage of human organs available for transplantation. Kidney transplantation provides the best survival prospects and quality of life for patients with end-stage kidney disease, but the global demand for donor kidneys far exceeds the supply.

Dr Leonardo Riella of Mass General Brigham said the shortage of organs remains “the greatest crisis” in transplantation. He said genetically modified animal organs could initially be used to help patients avoid dialysis while they wait for a human donor kidney and could eventually become a long-term treatment option if their safety and durability are established.

The pig kidney began showing damage to its blood vessels after about six months, eventually leading to organ failure and its removal nine months after transplantation.

Doctors found no new antibodies against human tissue following the procedure, suggesting the pig kidney did not make Andrews’ subsequent human transplant more difficult. No pig viruses or other pig pathogens were detected at any point.

The researchers cautioned that the result is based on a single patient with no comparison group. They said the outcome also depended on careful patient selection and intensive specialist care that may not be available in all settings.

Further clinical trials will be needed to determine whether genetically modified pig kidneys can safely and reliably be used as a bridge for other patients facing long waits for human organs.

The researchers said the case nevertheless provides new evidence that pig kidney transplantation could help address the global organ shortage and potentially offer patients a way to remain off dialysis while waiting for a human kidney.