WASHINGTON: Asad Majeed Khan, Pakistan’s ambassador to the United States, congratulated Dr Muhammad Mohiuddin, a professor of surgery at the University of Maryland School of Medicine, on achieving “a path-breaking achievement” in medical history after doctors in the Mid-Atlantic state transplanted a genetically modified pig’s heart into a human patient in a groundbreaking procedure to save his life.
Last week, a 57-year-old man in the Baltimore city with life-threatening heart disease received a heart from a genetically modified pig, a groundbreaking procedure that offers hope to hundreds of thousands of patients with failing organs.
It is the first successful transplant of a pig’s heart into a human being. The eight-hour operation took place on Friday, and the patient, David Bennett, 57, was doing well on Monday, according to surgeons at the facility.
Pig hearts have previously been transplanted successfully into baboons by Dr Mohiuddin, who established the cardiac xenotransplantation programme and is its scientific director. But safety concerns and fear of setting off a dangerous immune response that can be life-threatening precluded their use in humans until recently.
The team of doctors also used a new experimental drug developed in part by Dr Mohiuddin to suppress the immune system and prevent rejection.
“In a virtual meeting earlier today, I congratulated Dr Mohammad Mohiuddin on his path-breaking transplant surgery in the field of Xenotransplantation,” said Ambassador Khan in a tweet.
In a virtual meeting earlier today I congratulated Dr.Mohammad Mohiuddin on his path breaking transplant surgery in the field of Xenotransplantation. I told him how proud all Pakistani Americans were on this remarkable achievement by a fellow community member. pic.twitter.com/yIr76Q8He3
— Asad M. Khan (@asadmk17) January 12, 2022
“I told him how proud all Pakistani Americans were on this remarkable achievement by a fellow community member.”
Bennett, a handyman, knew there was no guarantee the experiment would work but he was dying, ineligible for a human heart transplant and had no other option, his son said.
“It was either die or do this transplant. I want to live. I know it’s a shot in the dark, but it’s my last choice,” he said a day before the surgery, according to a statement provided by the School of Medicine.
“If this works, there will be an endless supply of these organs for patients who are suffering,” said Dr Mohiuddin.
