The first person to have his failing heart replaced with that of a genetically altered pig died at the University of Maryland Medical Center two months after the transplant surgery.
David Bennett Jr., who lived in Maryland, died at the age of 57. He was rejected from several waiting lists to receive a human heart, but agreed to receive an experimental pig's heart.
There was no obvious cause of death, but it was unclear if his body rejected the organ.
Hospital officials could not comment on the cause of death because his physicians had not yet done a thorough examination. The results will be published in a peer-reviewed journal.
The hospital's staff was devastated by the loss of Mr. Bennett, according to the surgeon who performed the transplant.
He was a brave and noble patient who fought all the way to the end.
The heart transplant was one of a number of procedures in recent months in which organs from genetically altered pigs were used to replace organs in humans. There is an acute shortage of donated organs and the process of xenotransplantation offers new hope to tens of thousands of patients with ailing kidneys, hearts and other organs.
Mr. Bennett's transplant was initially successful. The pig's heart was not immediately rejected and continued to function for a month, passing a critical milestone for transplant patients.
According to the United Network for Organ Sharing, more than 42,000 Americans received a transplant last year.
There is a shortage of organs and many people on waiting lists die every day. More Americans received human donor hearts last year than ever before, but demand is still high.
Scientists have been trying to create pigs with organs that would not be rejected by the human body, a research effort that has picked up steam over the past decade because of new gene editing and cloning technologies.
In October, surgeons in New York announced that they had successfully attached a pig's kidneys to a brain-dead human patient, and that the organ worked normally and produced urine for 54 hours.
In January, surgeons at the University of Alabama at Birmingham reported that they had for the first time successfully transplant kidneys from a genetically modified pig into a brain-dead man. The kidneys produced urine for three days.
A small clinical trial with live human patients is planned by the end of the year, according to U.A.B. surgeons.
The Washington Post reported that Mr. Bennett had a criminal record stemming from an assault 34 years ago in which he stabbed a young man in a fit of jealousy.
Edward Shumaker spent two decades in a wheelchair, was paralyzed from the waist down, and had a stroke that left him mentally impaired before he died in 2007, according to his sister.
Mr. Bennett's son, David Bennett Jr., who was a child at the time of the stabbing, has said that he does not want to discuss his father's past, and emphasized that his father was contributing to medical science by undergoing the experimental transplant.
The pig heart that Mr. Bennett received was provided by Revivicor.
The pig was carrying 10 genetic modifications. A molecule that causes an aggressive human rejection response is one of the genes knocked out.
The pig's heart was stopped from growing after it was implanted. Six human genes were inserted into the pig's genome in order to make the pig's organs more compatible with the human immune system.
The FDA granted an emergency authorization for the experimental surgery on New Year's Eve.
There were no signs of rejection for several weeks after the transplant. Mr. Bennett did physical therapy and watched the Super Bowl, according to hospital officials.
Hospital officials said that his condition started to get worse several days ago.
His son thanked the hospital and staff for their hard work on his father's behalf.
Mr. Bennett said they hope the story can be the beginning of hope and not the end.
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