A team of American surgeons successfully transplanted the heart of a genetically modified pig into a human; a world first, Maryland Medical School reported Monday.
The operation was carried out on Friday and demonstrated for the first time that the heart of an animal can continue to beat in a human being without immediate rejection, he explained in a statement.
The patient, David Bennett, was unfit for a human transplant.
The 57-year-old Maryland resident is under medical surveillance to determine how the new organ is working.
“It was either to die or to undergo this transplant. I want to live. I know it is a shot in the dark, but it is my last option,” he said a day before the surgical operation.
Bennett, who has spent the last several months bedridden with a life support machine, added: “I look forward to getting out of bed once I have recovered.”
The Food and Drug Administration granted an emergency authorization for the surgery on New Year’s Eve, as the last chance for a patient who was not suitable for a conventional transplant.
“This was revolutionary surgery and it brings us one step closer to solving the organ shortage crisis,” said Bartley Griffith, who transplanted the pig heart.
“We are proceeding with caution, but we are also optimistic that this world’s first surgical operation will provide an important new option for patients in the future,” he added.
