Doctors Transplant Beating Pig Hearts Into Dead Human Bodies

Two patients who had recently been declared brain dead were successfully treated by a team of surgeons at NYU Langone.

The procedures were performed on June 19 and July 9. The recipients were monitored for three days after the surgery and were able to function without additional mechanical support.

10 genetic modifications were made to the pig hearts so they wouldn't be rejected by the recipient.

In October last year, a xenotransplant was performed in a brain dead patient. The recipient of the pig heart transplant died in March.

Robert Montgomery, director of the NYU Langone Transplant Institute, says that scientists can better understand how a human body tolerates pig hearts if they perform these transplants in recently dead recipients.

Montgomery said that they can do more frequent monitoring and understand the biology.

Montgomery, who is a recipient of a human heart transplant himself, hopes that his research will alleviate an already overburdened organ donation system. Over 100,000 people are on the organ waiting list, and 17 of them die each day waiting for a transplant.

Montgomery said that the purpose was to address the organ shortage and provide another option for the more than 100,000 people waiting on that lifesaver. Whole-body donation is critical to this work moving forward. The families who volunteer to participate in the research will save thousands of lives.

According to CNN, Lawrence Kelly of Pennsylvania was the first recipient of the pig hearts. The surgical team performed a second procedure on Capuano in July.

Kelly was declared brain dead after the accident. His fiancée agreed to donate his body.

Michael said that he didn't have to think twice about it. I said yes because I knew he would want it. I had to wait for him to be buried. He might be able to help a lot of people.

He was a hero and he died a hero.

There are still ethical questions to be wrestled over in the field of xenotransplantation and much more research needs to be done. The lives of thousands of waiting recipients can be saved in the future if the field continues to advance.

Doctors used patient's own cells to create a 3D printed ear.