Current:Home > InvestMonth after pig heart transplant, Maryland man pushing through "tough" physical therapy -Achieve Wealth Network
Month after pig heart transplant, Maryland man pushing through "tough" physical therapy
View
Date:2025-04-17 06:49:03
It's been a month since a Maryland man became the second person to receive a transplanted heart from a pig — and hospital video released Friday shows he's working hard to recover.
Lawrence Faucette was dying from heart failure and ineligible for a traditional heart transplant when doctors at the University of Maryland School of Medicine offered the highly experimental surgery.
In the first glimpse of Faucette provided since the Sept. 20 transplant, hospital video shows physical therapist Chris Wells urging him to push through a pedaling exercise to regain his strength.
"That's going to be tough but I'll work it out," Faucette, 58, replied, breathing heavily but giving a smile.
The Maryland team last year performed the world's first transplant of a heart from a genetically altered pig into another dying man. David Bennett survived just two months before that heart failed, for reasons that aren't completely clear although signs of a pig virus later were found inside the organ. Lessons from that first experiment led to changes before this second try, including better virus testing.
Attempts at animal-to-human organ transplants - called xenotransplants - have failed for decades, as people's immune systems immediately destroyed the foreign tissue. Now scientists are trying again using pigs genetically modified to make their organs more humanlike.
- Pig kidney works in human body for over a month, in latest step forward in animal-human transplants
In Friday's hospital video, Faucette's doctors said the pig heart has shown no sign of rejection.
"His heart is doing everything on its own," said Dr. Muhammad Mohiuddin, the Maryland team's cardiac xenotransplantation chief.
A hospital spokeswoman said Faucette has been able to stand and physical therapists are helping him gain strength needed to attempt walking.
Many scientists hope xenotransplants one day could compensate for the huge shortage of human organ donations. More than 100,000 people are on the nation's list for a transplant, most awaiting kidneys, and thousands will die waiting.
A handful of scientific teams have tested pig kidneys and hearts in monkeys and in donated human bodies, hoping to learn enough for the Food and Drug Administration to allow formal xenotransplant studies.
- Pig organ transplants inch closer to success as doctors test operation in brain-dead people
- In:
- Transplant
- Organ Transplant
veryGood! (97)
Related
- Meet first time Grammy nominee Charley Crockett
- Investigators focus on railway inspection practices after fatal Colorado train derailment
- Bob Knight, legendary Indiana college basketball coach, dies at 83
- California jury awards $332 million to man who blamed his cancer on use of Monsanto weedkiller
- Newly elected West Virginia lawmaker arrested and accused of making terroristic threats
- Powerball winning numbers from first drawing of November: Jackpot now at $173 million
- Arrest made in fatal shooting of Salem State University student
- 'The Office' creator Greg Daniels talks potential reboot, Amazon's 'Upload' and WGA strike
- Trump wants to turn the clock on daylight saving time
- Man and 1-year-old boy shot and killed in Montana residence, suspects detained
Ranking
- Charges tied to China weigh on GM in Q4, but profit and revenue top expectations
- Migrants in cities across the US may need medical care. It’s not that easy to find
- Bank of England keeps main UK interest rate unchanged at 15-year high of 5.25%
- Michael Phelps and Pregnant Wife Nicole Reveal Sex of Baby No. 4
- Behind on your annual reading goal? Books under 200 pages to read before 2024 ends
- How an American meat broker is fueling Amazon deforestation
- Format of public comment meetings for Dakota Access oil pipeline upsets opponents
- As culture wars plague local elections, LGBTQ+ candidates flock to the ballot
Recommendation
What do we know about the mysterious drones reported flying over New Jersey?
Charity says migrant testimonies point to a recurring practice of illegal deportations from Greece
Disney reaches $8.6 billion deal with Comcast to fully acquire Hulu
He lured them into his room promising candy, police say. Now he faces 161 molestation charges
US wholesale inflation accelerated in November in sign that some price pressures remain elevated
Takeaways from AP’s reporting on an American beef trader’s links to Amazon deforestation
Vanessa Hudgens Reveals If She'll Take Cole Tucker's Last Name After Their Wedding
Urban Meyer says Michigan football sign-stealing allegations are 'hard for me to believe'