David Bennett Sr. cause of death: David Bennett Sr. received a heart transplant from a genetically modified pig, a procedure that may still offer hope to millions of Americans in need of transplants.
The first person to have his failing heart replaced with that of a genetically altered pig died Tuesday afternoon at the University of Maryland Medical Center, two months after the transplant.
David Bennett Sr., of Maryland, was 57 years old. He had severe heart disease and agreed to receive the experimental pig’s heart after being rejected from several human heart waiting lists.
It was unclear whether his body had rejected the transplanted organ. “At the time of his death, there was no obvious cause identified,” a hospital spokeswoman said.
Officials at the hospital said they couldn’t comment further on the cause of death because his doctors hadn’t completed a thorough examination. The findings will be published in a peer-reviewed medical journal.
The surgeon who performed the transplant, Dr. Bartley Griffith, said the hospital’s staff was “devastated” by Mr. Bennett’s death.
“He proved to be a brave and noble patient who fought until the very end,” Dr. Griffith said. “Mr. Bennett became known to millions of people all over the world for his bravery and unwavering will to live.”
The heart transplant was one of several groundbreaking procedures in recent months that used organs from genetically altered pigs to replace organs in humans. Because there is an acute shortage of donated organs, the procedure, known as xenotransplantation, provides new hope for tens of thousands of patients with failing kidneys, hearts, and other organs.
Initially, Mr. Bennett’s transplant was deemed successful. It is still regarded as a significant step forward because the pig’s heart was not rejected right away and continued to function for well over a month, passing a critical milestone for transplant patients.
According to the United Network for Organ Sharing, a nonprofit that coordinates the nation’s organ procurement efforts, 41,354 Americans received transplanted organs last year, with more than half of them being kidneys.
However, organs are in short supply, and a dozen or more people on waiting lists die every day. Last year, approximately 3,800 Americans received human donor hearts as replacements, more than ever before, but demand remains high.
Scientists have been attempting to create pigs whose organs would not be rejected by the human body, a research effort that has gained traction in the last decade as a result of new gene editing and cloning technologies.
In October, surgeons in New York announced that they had successfully attached a kidney grown in a genetically altered pig to a brain-dead human patient, discovering that the organ functioned normally and produced urine for 54 hours.
Surgeons at the University of Alabama at Birmingham reported in January that they had successfully transplanted kidneys from a genetically modified pig into the abdomen of a 57-year-old brain-dead man for the first time. For three days, the kidneys worked and produced urine.
Surgeons at the U.A.B. said they hoped to start a small clinical trial with live human patients by the end of the year.
The Washington Post reported shortly after Mr. Bennett’s heart surgery in January that he had a criminal record stemming from an assault 34 years ago in which he repeatedly stabbed a young man in a jealous rage, paralyzing him.
According to his sister, Leslie Shumaker Downey of Frederick, Md., the victim, Edward Shumaker, spent two decades in a wheelchair, paralyzed from the waist down, and suffered numerous medical complications, including a stroke that left him cognitively impaired, before dying in 2007 at the age of 40.
Mr. Bennett’s son, David Bennett Jr., who was a child at the time of the stabbing, has stated that he does not want to discuss his father’s past, instead emphasizing that his father was contributing to medical science by undergoing the experimental transplant, which he hoped would “potentially save patient lives in the future.”
Mr. Bennett received a heart from a genetically altered pig provided by Revivor, a regenerative medicine company based in Blacksburg, Virginia.
The pig was genetically modified in ten ways. Four genes were deleted or inactivated, one of which encodes a molecule that causes an aggressive human rejection response.
Another gene was also turned off to prevent the pig’s heart from growing after it was implanted. Six human genes were also inserted into the donor pig’s genome, to make the pig’s organs more tolerable to the human immune system.
The Food and Drug Administration granted an emergency authorization for the experimental surgery on New Year’s Eve, which was performed a week later.
The transplanted heart performed admirably at first, with no signs of rejection for several weeks. According to hospital officials, Mr. Bennett spent time with his family, went to physical therapy, and watched the Super Bowl.
However, he was not discharged, and his condition began to deteriorate several days ago, according to hospital officials.
His son released a statement thanking the hospital and staff for their tireless efforts on his father’s behalf.
“We hope that this story is just the beginning of hope,” Mr. Bennett said. “We also hope that what we learned from his surgery will help future patients and, hopefully, one day, put an end to the organ shortage that claims so many lives every year.” Let’s see David Bennett Sr. cause of death down here.
David Bennett Sr. cause of death
According to the spokesperson,
It was unclear whether his body had rejected the transplanted organ. “At the time of his death, there was no obvious cause identified.
But Previously,
Dr. Dhaniram Baruah transplanted a pig’s heart into the body of a 32 – year – old man. As a result of the successful surgery, the patient survived for 7 days after the heart transplant. But the patient had multiple infections that could not save his life. In fact, the patient had a hole in the lower chamber of the heart, which is called a ventricular septal defect. As a result, the patient developed a variety of infections. “
So as per the previous transplants and experiences, doctors are thinking of a ventricular septal defect that ultimately, developed a variety of infections and respiratory system break down that causes the death of David Bennett Sr.
Also read,
Why do we choose pig hearts for transplantation?
Transplanting organs and tissues from different species (xenotransplantation) has long been a goal for transplant specialists. Clinicians have hoped that one day, animal organs will be transplanted into humans. Several attempts were made in the 1970s and 1990s to transplant kidneys, livers, and hearts from nonhuman primates to humans. Some of these kidneys functioned for months, but the vast majority of primate organs failed soon after transplantation due to rejection or surgical complications.
In the early 1990s, there was a resurgence of interest in xenotransplantation. However, at the time, primates were not popular as source animals. This was due to the high risk of viral transmission as well as the fact that the majority of the larger primates were listed as endangered species. Instead, the pig was regarded as the preferred mammal for a variety of reasons. Pig organs are physically identical to human organs, and pigs come in various sizes. Pigs have a large litter and are easy to breed. Because millions of pigs are slaughtered for human consumption each year, there should be no ethical issues with using pig organs to cure human illness. There was also the fact that the pig was genetically engineered.
The ultimate use of pig organs and cells for human transplantation will revolutionize the field. There will be unrestricted access to unharmed organs and cells for transplantation, and the use of human organs from living or afflicted donors will be rendered obsolete shortly. While human organ transplantation requires the use of lethal immunosuppressive medications, the use of pig organs will allow for rejection to be avoided, at least in part, through genetic modification of the animal.
I hope you’ve got a clear idea on pig heart transplant man cause of death.
Is pig heart man still alive?
No, as per the hospital reports David Bennett Sr. the man with pig heart transplanted died of an unknown cause. Doctors are working on the cause of death.
I hope you understand David Bennett Sr. cause of death from this post.
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