The second person to receive a transplanted heart from a pig has reached the one-month mark and a hospital video shows he's working hard to recover.

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 because of other health problems 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 smile while pushing through a pedaling exercise to regain his strength.

  • DocMcStuffin@lemmy.worldEnglish
    15·
    11 months ago

    The first person they tried this with died. They weren’t sure the exact cause. It could have been because doctors didn’t handle the immunosuppressants just right, it could have been due to a porcine virus that was hidden in the heart, or the patient could have been too sick to begin with.

    Not trying to be a negative nancy. Just saying that as they test this new technology there will be people who get an extension on life and people who don’t.

    • Paddzr@lemmy.world
      8·
      11 months ago

      It’s a case where they either can’t get a human heart or their chances are so low… It’s better to give it to someone else. Good human hearts aren’t easy to come by.

      If this gives someone a chance? Great. This will be their last resort.