In January 2022, the University of Maryland School of Medicine performed a world-high surgery to perform the world's first genetically modified pig heart transplant, and a 57-year-old Maryland man became a witness to the historic moment.
What is the story behind this surgery?
What about the results of the surgery?
It is reported that the man is bedridden and dependent on machines to maintain his life, so he is not suitable for human heart transplantation.
As a result, he became the first patient to undergo a gene-edited pig heart transplant.
This marks a big step forward for the medical community, bringing porcine heart transplantation technology into clinical practice.
In the first few weeks after the transplant, the man showed no signs of acute rejection, giving a glimmer of hope.
However, just 2 months after the surgery was completed, the man died of heart failure.
While the surgery has had some success, there have been inevitable challenges and problems.
Still, the potential of the porcine heart transplant technique is enormous, but it requires more time and further research.
If successful, this technology will be a boon for heart disease patients who are unable to transplant a human heart.
This will have a significant impact on the medical field and give hope to more patients.
The significance of this surgery is far from just a clinical practice, pig hearts are similar to human hearts in shape, size, structure and genes, so the success of this technology will have a profound impact on the medical field.
The survival of the man for more than 40 days is a progress in human medicine, which also proves once again that the exploration and attempts of scientists and medical workers have promoted the progress of medicine and science and technology, and their efforts have brought new hope to overcome various incurable diseases.