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Image source, University of Maryland School of Medicine
Surgeon Bartley Griffith posed for a photo with patient David Bennett in early January.
The American was the first person in the world to perform heart transplant surgery on a genetically modified pig.
The patient, identified as David Bennett, was pronounced dead three days after a seven-hour screening in Baltimore, according to doctors.
This transplant was considered Bennett’s last hope to save his life., It is not yet clear what their chances of long-term survival are.
The day before the surgery, Bennett, 57, explained, “It was either dying or undergoing this transplant surgery.”
“I know it’s a shot in the dark, but it’s my last resort,” he added.
To do this intervention, doctors at the University of Maryland Medical Center obtained special permission from U.S. health officials, which was issued on the grounds that Bennett would have died if it had not been implemented.
Transplant surgery can mean a huge change in the lives of many people around the world.
For the medical team that performed the transplant, this marks the culmination of many years of research.
Surgeon Bartley Griffith said The move will bring the world “one step closer to resolving the organ shortage crisis.”, According to a report from the University of Maryland School of Medicine.
That crisis means that 17 people die every day in the United States waiting for organ transplant surgery. OrganDonor.gov. According to, more than 100,000 patients are on the waiting list.
The possibility of using animal organs to meet human need – a process known as xenotransplantation – has long been considered and the use of pig heart valves is already common.
A pig donated
In October 2021, a team of surgeons in New York announced the successful transplantation of one pig kidney per person. At the time, this surgery was the most advanced experiment in the field to date.
Image source, University of Maryland School of Medicine
The operation in Baltimore (Maryland) lasted more than seven hours.
However, the recipient in that case was a brain-disabled patient who had no hope of recovery.
Bennett, for his part, hopes his transplant will allow him to continue his life. He was bedridden for six weeks before surgery and was fitted with a machine that kept him alive after he was diagnosed with heart disease.
“I hope I can get out of bed after I recover.”He said last Thursday.
It is unknown at this time what he will do after leaving the post. According to the AFP, the pig used in the transplant was genetically modified to remove the sugar-producing gene that stimulates the immune system in humans.
Griffith monitored Bennett closely and said he would “proceed with caution”, while his son David Bennett Jr. admitted to the AP news agency that they were currently “in the unknown”.
His father “knows the extent of what has been done and really realizes how important it is,” he added.
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