After the death of the world's first patient with a transplanted pig heart, doctors want to continue to carry out such transplants.

"We gained invaluable insight and learned that a genetically engineered pig heart can function well in the human body if the immune system is adequately suppressed," said surgeon Muhammad Mohiuddin of Baltimore University Hospital.

"We remain optimistic and plan to continue our work with additional clinical trials."

Leading Munich heart surgeons rated the first transplantation of a pig heart as a success, even after the patient's death.

The fact that the 57-year-old man survived two months given his previous illnesses and additional complications during the operation is a very good result, explained the surgeon Bruno Reichart from the Großhadern Clinic at the Ludwig Maximilian University (LMU) on Thursday in Munich to the German press -Agency.

Reichart and Brenner, together with the veterinarian Eckhard Wolf from the LMU Gene Center, are among the world's leading teams in research with animal donor organs.

They are also planning such interventions as in the USA in the foreseeable future.

Valuable family time

At the beginning of January, 57-year-old David Bennett was the first patient in the world to have a pig heart implanted as a replacement organ.

After the operation, the man's condition was initially relatively stable, the clinic said.

The man was able to spend time with his family, including watching the Super Bowl football spectacle and talking about wanting to go home to his dog, Lucky.

His condition had deteriorated a few days ago and he died on Tuesday.

Munich heart surgeon and pioneer in the field of transplantation, Reichart said the patient's death was tragic.

However, he was already feeling very bad before the operation.

“The patient was generally too ill.

Even a human heart would probably not have helped.” Even if a new heart works, it cannot compensate for damage to other organs.

The first month after an operation is crucial for the rejection reaction, said Reichart.

"Anything that goes over four weeks is a success."

It is now important to clarify the exact cause of death and rule out a rejection reaction, said Brenner.

During the operation, there was a serious complication with an aortic tear.

This problem took up a good half of the eight-hour intervention.

First attempt planned soon in Munich

In Munich, a treatment attempt on a terminally ill patient, as in the USA, could possibly be tackled in six months to a year, said Brenner.

In addition, the Munich team is planning a clinical study with five to six patients.

Appropriate approval from the Paul Ehrlich Institute has been applied for.

The study is expected to begin in 2024, Brenner said.

In Munich, work is currently underway on the breeding of genetically modified pigs and on drugs for immunosuppression.

"You have to keep going," emphasized Reichart.

The technology with the genetically modified pig hearts is mature.

However, patients who are not so ill would have to be selected for the study.

After the world's first heart transplant, the patient survived just 18 days.

Cardiac surgeon Christiaan Barnard transplanted the world's first heart on December 3, 1967 in Cape Town, South Africa.

In Germany, too, the first patients died shortly after the operation.

According to studies, 70 percent of patients are still alive after three years.

High mortality from the artificial heart

According to Reichart, the artificial heart is still not an alternative.

Mortality is high for the artificial heart, at around 40 percent.

Pig hearts have long been researched worldwide as an alternative to human donor organs.

Because many terminally ill patients die before they get an organ.

The so-called xenotransplantation, i.e. the transfer of animal organs to humans, has been researched since the 1980s.

Pigs are particularly suitable as donors because their metabolism is similar to that of humans.

The team led by Reichart, Brenner and Wolf published a study at the end of 2018 that set a new milestone: A baboon survived 195 days with a pig's heart and thus more than half a year before the experiment was stopped as planned.