Pig Heart: a transplant first

 

Become An Organ Donor

So here’s an article you ought to check out over on the AP’s web page, “In 1st, US surgeons transplant pig heart into human patient,” by Carla Johnson. It seems that surgeons at the University of Maryland Medical Center transplanted a genetically modified pig’s heart into a man who was dying and could not receive a normal human heart.

This is vitally important because there is a significant shortage of human organs for transplant purposes. While this particular heart transplant may not save the man who received the organ, it could be the beginning of something vital. If we could breed animals for transplant purposes, countless lives could be spared.

This is a cause close to my own heart. My mother was an organ donor. I have carried an organ donor card in my wallet for decades. When the day comes that I shuffle off this moral coil, I hope that my organs can go on and help someone else live a full life.

But, better still, would be a world in which there was no shortage of organs, and everyone could count on a heart or liver or lungs being available. 

So let’s all hope that this works out. And, in the meanwhile, if you’d care to become an organ donor yourself, go to the U.S. government’s information page on organ donation to learn more: https://www.organdonor.gov/sign-up

~mjt

Source:  “In 1st, US surgeons transplant pig heart into human patient,” by Carla Johnson, AP, Jan 10, 2022, https://apnews.com/article/pig-heart-transplant-6651614cb9d73bada8eea2ecb6449aef