In this photo provided by the University of Maryland School of Medicine, members of the surgical team perform the transplant of a pig heart into patient David Bennett in Baltimore on Friday, Jan. 7, 2022.
Mark Teske/University of Maryland School of Medicine via AP
- For the first time, a man has received a heart from a genetically altered pig, The New York Times reported.
- The patient had a life-threatening heart condition that caused him to need a heart transplant.
- The 57-year-old man received the pig heart on Friday at the University of Maryland’s medical center.
For the first time, a man has received a heart from a genetically altered pig.
A 57-year-old man with a life-threatening heart condition has received a new heart from a genetically altered pig. It’s the first successful transplant of a pig’s heart into a human body, The New York Times reported Monday.
The operation took place in Baltimore at the University of Maryland Medical Center on Friday, The Times reported. Doctors at the medical center said the patient, David Bennett Sr. of Maryland, is doing well.
“It creates the pulse, it creates the pressure, it is his heart,” Dr. Bartley Griffith, the director of the cardiac transplant program at the medical center, told The Times.
“It’s working and it looks normal,” Griffith, who performed the operation, added. “We are thrilled, but we don’t know what tomorrow will bring us. This has never been done before.”
This success story likely instills hope in the thousands of others awaiting organ transplants, according to The Times.
This story is developing. Please check back for updates.
