Man with genetically modified pig heart
All hopes of human beings getting animal heart transplants have been thrown out after the first person in the world to get one from a genetically-modified pig has died.
David Bennett, who had terminal heart disease, survived for two months following the surgery in the US.
But his condition began to deteriorate several days ago, his doctors in Baltimore said, and the 57-year-old died on 8 March.
Bennett knew the risks attached to the surgery, acknowledging before the procedure it was “a shot in the dark”.
Doctors at the University of Maryland Medical Center were granted a special dispensation by the US medical regulator to carry out the procedure, on the basis that Mr Bennett – who was ineligible for a human transplant – would otherwise have died.
He had already been bedridden for six weeks leading up to the surgery, attached to a machine which was keeping him alive.
Man with genetically modified pig heart
Bennett underwent the surgery on 7 January, and doctors say in the weeks afterwards he spent time with his family, watched the Super Bowl and spoke about wanting to get home to his dog, Lucky.
But his condition deteriorated, leaving doctors “devastated”.
“He proved to be a brave and noble patient who fought all the way to the end,” surgeon Bartley Griffith, who performed the transplant, said in a statement released by the hospital.
But Bennett’s son, David Jr, said he hoped his father’s transplant would “be the beginning of hope and not the end”, according to news agency AP.
“We are grateful for every innovative moment, every crazy dream, every sleepless night that went into this historic effort,” he added.
