Find Out ”Lawrence Faucette Death Cause: What Happened?” The second individual to undergo a procedure to receive a genetically modified pig heart was Lawrence Faucette, a 58-year-old patient suffering from a severe cardiac condition.
Regrettably, he passed away on October 30, as confirmed by an announcement from the University of Maryland Medical Center in Baltimore, the medical facility responsible for performing the groundbreaking transplant.
Despite the additional precautions taken by the medical team in Maryland, Faucette’s survival duration was shorter than that of the initial recipient, lasting only six weeks following the transplant that took place on September 20.
Initially, Faucette showed signs of recovery from his surgery. As reported by the university, he engaged in activities such as playing cards with his spouse, attending family gatherings, and receiving physical therapy.
However, in the days leading up to his passing, his heart displayed indications of organ rejection. In simpler terms, his immune system mistakenly identified the pig heart as foreign and initiated an attack against it.
Lawrence Faucette Death Cause: What Happened? Illness Update
Lawrence Faucette, a 58-year-old resident of Frederick, Maryland, succumbed to his terminal heart condition on Monday.
Mr. Faucette had undergone an extensive eight-hour procedure at the University of Maryland Medical Center on September 20, where he received an experimental xenotransplant.
Lawrence Faucette Obituary
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World’s Second Human Recipient Of Pig Heart Dies Six weeks After Operation
This week marked the passing of Lawrence Faucette, the world’s second recipient of a pig heart transplant, nearly six weeks after the groundbreaking procedure.
At the age of 58, Lawrence Faucette battled terminal heart disease and underwent a heart transplant using a genetically modified pig heart on September 20. Tragically, he passed away on October 30.
In an in memoriam note, Bartley Griffith, the surgeon who conducted the transplant at the University of Maryland Medical Center in Baltimore, paid tribute to Mr. Faucette, describing him as a remarkable individual, a scientist, a Navy veteran, and a devoted family man who simply wished for more time to be with his loving wife, sons, and family.
Lawrence Faucette, a father of two who had previously worked as a lab technician at the National Institutes of Health before retirement, had been actively engaged in physical therapy to regain his mobility following the surgery.
His wife, Ann Faucette, shared that he understood the brevity of his time and saw this as an opportunity to help others. She expressed that he never anticipated surviving as long as he did.
The previous year, Dr. Griffith’s team had performed the world’s first genetically modified pig heart transplant on David Bennett, a 57-year-old handyman suffering from advanced heart failure.
Bennett unfortunately succumbed to heart failure two months after the procedure. Subsequent investigations revealed that although there were no immediate signs of rejection, Bennett might have become more susceptible to organ rejection due to antibodies produced by his immune system. Furthermore, traces of porcine cytomegalovirus, a latent virus in pigs, were found in the transplanted heart, potentially contributing to complications.
Muhammad Mohiuddin, a professor of surgery and the scientific program director of the cardiac xenotransplantation program at the University of Maryland School of Medicine, together with Dr. Griffith and Ann Faucette, announced their intention to conduct an extensive analysis aimed at identifying preventable factors in future transplants, mirroring the approach taken with the first patient, David Bennett Sr.
Mohiuddin expressed gratitude to the Faucette family for their pivotal role in advancing xenotransplants, emphasizing Lawrence Faucette’s unique contribution as a scientist who not only interpreted his own biopsies but also understood the significance of his involvement in advancing this field.
Xenotransplantation, the transfer of cells, tissues, and organs from animals to humans, remains an experimental and cutting-edge medical field that seeks to address the organ shortage crisis.
Both Faucette and Bennett were too ill with end-stage heart disease to qualify for traditional transplants using human organs. Instead, they received genetically modified pig hearts, specifically engineered to be more compatible with the human body, including the deletion of a gene to prevent the pig heart from growing.
In the United States, over 100,000 people are currently on the national transplant waiting list, with one person added to the list every 10 minutes. Kidneys are the most urgently needed organs, with 85% of patients awaiting kidney transplants.
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