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There was recent news about a patient who underwent porcine-to-human cardiac xenotransplantation and died two months later. The clinicians and researchers have now published a description of what occurred for a medical audience.
The 57-year-old patient had been hospitalized for severe heart failure and suffered from chronic mild thrombocytopenia, hypertension, nonischemic cardiomyopathy, and a prior mitral valve repair. His left ventricular ejection fraction was 10%. He was failing medical therapies and was considered a poor candidate for allotransplantation and mechanical circulatory support (he was refused by four programs). He was offered and agreed to undergo xenotransplantation.
The heart was from a pig with 10 gene edits designed to mak…