Pig hearts in people: Xenotransplantation's history, promise, and the ethical use of people who are brain-dead in research

In the early hours of January 7, 2022, David Bennett was out of options. At just 57 years old, he was bedridden, on life support, and in desperate need of a heart transplant for which he was ineligible. Yet Bennett would go on to live for two more months — not with a human heart, but with a heart from a pig. David Bennett was the first case of a pig heart being transplanted into a human, an example of xenotransplantation — when the cells, tissues or organs from one species are transplanted into another. In the United States, over 100,000 kids and adults are currently on the national transplant waiting list, and every day around 17 people on that list die while waiting. 

In today's episode, we cover the science and historical research that made Bennett’s transplant possible, and what doctors learned from him that helped the next heart xenotransplant recipient, Lawrence Faucette, live even longer. We also get into some of the ethics conversations surrounding xenotransplantation work — not just questions about the use of animals like pigs and baboons, but experiments with recently deceased, i.e. brain dead, people.

Check out Jyoti Madhusoodanan's Undark story, "The Allure and Dangers of Experimenting With Brain-Dead Bodies" here. Her JAMA story we mention, also on xenotransplantion, is here.

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