Washington, Europe Brief News – A baby boy called Easton has made medical history by becoming the first person in the world to receive a combined heart.
The pioneering procedure was done to save his life. However, it could also revolutionise the field of organ transplantation.
The donated thymus tissue should help stop his body rejecting the new heart.
Months on from the surgery, tests reveal Easton is progressing well.
The thymus tissue is working. This means his body is building critical immune cells which might ultimately reduce or even eliminate the need for him to take lifelong anti-rejection drugs.
One of his doctors, Joseph Turek from Duke University Hospital, said: “We are very excited about it. This concept of tolerance has always been the holy grail in transplantation, and we are now on the doorstep.
“This has the potential to change the face of solid organ transplantation in the future.”
The thymus gland helps the development of T-cells, which fight foreign substances in the body. It teaches these immune cells what is “self” and what isn’t.
Giving Easton cultured thymus tissue from the same donor who gave him a heart, should help his body adopt the new tissues.
Born with Weak Heart
Easton was born with a weak heart as well as problems with his immune system. He spent his first seven months in hospital. Some of it on life support. He needed numerous heart operations as well as treatment for recurrent infections that his body was unable to fight on its own.
His mother, Kaitlyn Sinnamon, recalls: “It helped some. But it was basically a band aid for us to make it through transplant.”
His doctors applied to the medical regulatory body, the FDA, to carry out an experimental type of transplant that hadn’t been done in combination before, as far as they knew.
Since Easton needed a new heart and, independently, a new thymus gland, the FDA granted approval for the procedures that went ahead in August 2021, when Easton was six months old.
