Medical First Sees Pig's Heart Successfully Transplanted Into A Human

A pig’s heart has been transplanted into a human in a medical first. David Bennett, 57, from Maryland, United States is the first person in the world to get a heart transplant from a genetically-modified pig. The historic surgery was conducted by University of Maryland School of Medicine (UMSOM) faculty at the University of Maryland Medical Center (UMMC). Doctors say Bennett is doing well three days after the experimental seven-hour procedure. He will now be carefully monitored to determine whether the transplant provides lifesaving benefits. The procedure was the only available option for the patient after he had been deemed ineligible for a conventional heart transplant at UMMC as well as at several other leading transplant centers that reviewed his medical records. "It was either die or do this transplant," Mr Bennett explained. For the medical team who carried out the transplant, it marks the culmination of years of research and could change lives around the world. The U.S has a huge shortage of human organs donated for transplant driving scientists to try to figure out how to use animal organs instead.