Playing by the strict rules of the FDA, xenotransplant researchers are itching to apply the lessons learned from this year’s historic case of cardiac surgery in their quest to move the transplant field forward amid a strained supply of donor organs.
In the landmark case, the first person to undergo a pig heart xenotransplant, David Bennett, age 57, had been denied a traditional human heart transplant from several programs before he ultimately agreed to the experimental surgery. The FDA green-lit the xenotransplant, and Bennett was kept alive for 60 days before succumbing to graft failure and sudden diastolic failure without evidence of traditional allograft rejection…
