A team of surgeons at NYU Langone successfully transplanted genetically engineered pig hearts into two patients who had recently been declared deceased from brain death.
The procedures, known as xenotransplants, were performed June 19 and July 9, and marked an important step forward in animal-to-human transplantation. Neither of the recipients displayed any signs of rejecting the new hearts over the course of the three days they were monitored post-surgery, and were able to function without "additional mechanical support," according to the medical center's press release.
The pig hearts had 10 genetic modifications to prevent rejection by the recipient's body, and were inspected for any potential porcine viruses.
While a xenotransplant was successfully performed in October last year, also in a brain dead patient, it was with a genetically engineered pig kidney. And in January, a genetically modified pig heart was transplanted into a living man, but tragically, the recipient passed away in March.
To prevent devastating losses like those in the future, NYU Langone Transplant Institute director Robert Montgomery says that by performing these xenotransplants in recently dead recipients, scientists can better understand how a human body tolerates pig hearts to make the procedure safer for living patients.
"We can do much more frequent monitoring and really sort of understand the biology and fill in all of the unknowns," Montgomery told CNN.
Montgomery, who is a recipient of a human heart transplant himself, hopes that his team’s research and others like it will alleviate an already overburdened organ donation system. According to the Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network, there are currently 105,913 people on the organ waiting list, and an average of 17 of them die each day waiting for a transplant.
"Our greater purpose is to address the organ shortage and provide another option for the more than 100,000 people nationwide waiting on that lifesaving gift," Montgomery said in a statement. "The paradigm of whole-body donation — when organ donation is not a viable option — is critical to this work moving forward. We are so grateful to the families who volunteer to participate in this research, which will lead to saving untold thousands of more lives."
The first recipient of the pig hearts in June was 72-year-old Lawrence Kelly of Pennsylvania, whose family donated his body after he was declared brain dead, according to CNN. In July, the surgical team performed the procedure again on 64-year-old Alva Capuano of New York, also deceased.
Kelly was declared brain dead after a car crash. His fiancé, Alice Michael, agreed to donate his body.
"When they asked me, I didn't have to think twice about it," Michael told CNN. "I just automatically said yes, because I knew it was groundbreaking research, and I know he would have wanted it. It was hard because I had to wait to bury him. But in the long run, maybe he can help a lot of people."
"He was a hero in life, and he went out a hero."
Much more research will need to be done in the yet burgeoning field of xenotransplantation before it's anywhere near safe or ubiquitous, and there are still ethical questions to be wrestled over. But hopefully, as the field advances, the lives of thousands of waiting recipients can be saved in the future.
More on transplants: Doctors Transplant Ear That Was 3D Printed With Patient's Own Cells
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Timu ya madaktari wa upasuaji wa NYU Langone wamefanikiwa kupandikiza moyo wa nguruwe kwa wagonjwa wawili ambao walikuwa wamekufa kwa sababu ya kifo cha ubongo. Upasuaji huo unaojulikana kama xenotransplant ulifanyika Juni 19 na Julai 9 na ulionyesha hatua muhimu mbele katika upandikizaji wa mwili kutoka kwa mnyama hadi kwa binadamu. Hakuna mmoja wa wapokeaji walionyesha dalili zozote za kukataa moyo mpya katika kipindi cha siku tatu walipokuwa wakifuatiliwa baada ya upasuaji, na waliweza kufanya kazi bila "msaada wa ziada wa mitambo", kulingana na taarifa ya kituo cha matibabu. Moyo wa nguruwe ulibadilishwa kwa njia ya chembe za urithi ili kuzuia mwili wa mpokeaji usimkataze, na ulichunguzwa kwa virusi vya nguruwe. Upasuaji wa kuhamisha figo ulifanyika mwezi Oktoba mwaka jana, lakini kwa figo ya nguruwe iliyobadilishwa chembe za urithi. Katika mwaka wa 2015, moyo wa nguruwe uliobadilishwa chembe za urithi ulipandikizwa kwa mtu aliye hai, lakini kwa bahati mbaya, mteja huyo alikufa mwezi Machi. "Kwa sababu ya kuepuka hasara kubwa kama hizo katika siku zijazo, mkurugenzi wa Taasisi ya Upasuaji ya NYU Langone, Robert Montgomery, anasema kwamba kwa kufanya ""transplants za nje"" kwa wapokeaji waliokufa hivi karibuni, wanasayansi wanaweza kuelewa vizuri jinsi mwili wa binadamu unavyovumilia mioyo ya nguruwe ili kufanya utaratibu huo kuwa salama kwa wagonjwa walio hai." "Tunaweza kufanya ufuatiliaji wa mara kwa mara na kweli kuelewa biolojia na kujaza yote ya haijulikani, ""Montgomery aliambia CNN." Montgomery, ambaye mwenyewe ni mpokeaji wa kupandikizwa moyo wa binadamu, anatumaini kwamba utafiti wa timu yake na wengine kama yeye utapunguza mfumo wa kutoa viungo ambao tayari umezidiwa. Kulingana na Shirika la Kupata Viungo na Upasuaji, kuna watu 105,913 katika orodha ya kusubiri kwa ajili ya viungo, na wastani wa 17 kati yao hufa kila siku wakisubiri kupandikizwa. "Lengo letu kubwa ni kukabiliana na upungufu wa viungo na kutoa chaguo jingine kwa watu zaidi ya 100,000 nchini kote wakisubiri zawadi hiyo ya kuokoa maisha, ""Montgomery alisema katika taarifa." "Mfano wa kutoa mwili wote - wakati kutoa viungo si chaguo linalofaa - ni muhimu kwa kazi hii kusonga mbele. """Tunashukuru sana kwa familia ambazo zimejitolea kushiriki katika utafiti huu, ambao utaongoza kuokoa maelfu zaidi ya maisha." Mpokeaji wa kwanza wa moyo wa nguruwe alikuwa Lawrence Kelly mwenye umri wa miaka 72 kutoka Pennsylvania, ambaye familia yake ilitoa mwili wake baada ya kutangazwa kuwa amekufa. Katika mwezi Julai, daktari huyo wa upasuaji alimfanyia upasuaji mwingine Alva Capuano, mwenye umri wa miaka 64, ambaye pia alikufa. Kelly alitangazwa kuwa amekufa kiakili baada ya aksidenti ya gari. Mke wake wa ndoa, Alice Michael, alikubali kutoa mwili wake. """Nilipoambiwa na Michael, nilijaribu kuamua kwa mara ya pili,"" alisema." "Nilisema ndiyo moja kwa moja, kwa sababu nilijua kwamba ilikuwa utafiti wa kisasa, na nilijua kwamba angependa kufanya hivyo. Ilikuwa vigumu kwa sababu ilibidi nisubiri kumzika. Lakini kwa muda mrefu, labda anaweza kuwasaidia watu wengi". "Alikuwa shujaa maishani, na alikufa akiwa shujaa". "Hata hivyo, utafiti zaidi unahitaji kufanywa katika uwanja wa ""Xenotransplantation"" kabla ya kuwa karibu salama au kila mahali, na bado kuna maswali ya maadili ya kupigana juu yake." Lakini kwa matumaini, kadiri uwanja unavyoendelea, maisha ya maelfu ya wapokeaji wanaosubiri yanaweza kuokolewa katika siku zijazo. Upasuaji wa kupandikiza sikio kwa kutumia chembe za mgonjwa mwenyewe