A 57-year-old Maryland man has become the first person to receive a heart that was grown in a genetically altered pig, according to the University of Maryland School of Medicine.
A man from Maryland is the first to have a pig heart transplant.
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David Bennett underwent a procedure at the University of Maryland Medical Center in Baltimore on Friday.
Bennett is doing well three days after the surgery, according to multiple reports.
Bennett was connected to a heart-lung bypass machine prior to the surgery, but he has passed the critical 48 hour mark, according to the New York Times.
Bennett was too ill to qualify for a human transplant and was ineligible for an artificial heart pump due to a life-threatening arrhythmia, according to UMSOM.
The compassionate use provision of the FDA allowed surgeons to take the medical gamble on New Year's Eve.
Bennett asked doctors "Well, will I oink?" when they first discussed the idea of a pig heart transplant with him, according to the New York Times.
Bennett said the day before the surgery that it was either die or do the transplant. I want to live. I know it is a shot in the dark, but it is my last choice.
Surprising fact.
The pig's genome was added with six additional genes needed for human immune acceptance, and three genes that were responsible for human rejection were knocked out. The pig's heart would not grow inside a human body if one of the genes was knocked out.
What to watch for.
Bennett could be taken off the machine on Tuesday.
The key background.
In October, surgeons at NYU Langone Health in New York City successfully attached a pig kidneys to a brain-dead human body, a breakthrough that medical researchers have been pinning their hopes on. The study showed that the kidneys on the body were functioning for 54 hours, leaving many hopeful that pig organs could be used on humans. Since pigs can reach adult size in six months, they are seen as the animal of choice for future transplants, and their heart valves have already been used for human transplants.
The number is big.
17 According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, there are about 500 people who die each day waiting for an organ transplant.
A man gets a heart from a pig.
US surgeons transplant pig heart into a human.
The first pig kidneys have been successfully tested in a human.
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