A 57-year-old man in the United States, identified as David Bennett, has become the first person in the world to receive a heart transplant from a genetically-modified pig.
The transplant was considered the last hope of saving Bennett’s life, however, it is not yet clear what his long-term chances of survival are.
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Bennett is reportedly doing well, three days after the experimental seven-hour procedure which took place in Baltimore.
Bennett had explained a day before the surgery that, “It was either die or do this transplant.”
“I know it’s a shot in the dark, but it’s my last choice,” he added.
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 Bennett would otherwise have died.
He had been deemed ineligible for a human transplant, a decision that is often taken by doctors when the patient is in very poor health.
Surgeon Bartley Griffith said the surgery would bring the world “one step closer to solving the organ shortage crisis”.
According to reports, 17 people die daily in the US, waiting for a transplant, with more than 100,000 reportedly on the waiting list.
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The possibility of using animal organs for so-called xenotransplantation to meet the demand has long been considered, and using pig heart valves is already a common trend.
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