Man Who Received First Modified Pig Heart Transplant Dies

March 9, 2022 — David Bennett Sr., the 57-year-old affected person with terminal coronary heart illness who turned the primary particular person to obtain a genetically modified pig coronary heart, has died.

Bennett handed away Tuesday, in line with a press release from the University of Maryland Medical Center in Baltimore, the place the transplant was carried out.

Bennett acquired the transplant on Jan. 7 and lived for two months after it.

Although not giving the precise explanation for his demise, the medical middle mentioned Bennett’s situation started getting worse a number of days earlier than his demise.

When it turned clear that he wouldn’t get well, he was given compassionate palliative care and was capable of talk along with his household throughout his remaining hours.

“We are devastated by the lack of Mr. Bennett. He proved to be a courageous and noble affected person who fought all the best way to the tip. We lengthen our sincerest condolences to his household,” Bartley P. Griffith, MD, who carried out the transplant, mentioned within the assertion.

“We are grateful to Mr. Bennett for his distinctive and historic function in serving to to contribute to an enormous array of information to the sphere of xenotransplantation,” which is the method of transplanting organs between totally different species, mentioned Muhammad M. Mohiuddin, MD, director of the cardiac xenotransplantation program at University of Maryland School of Medicine.

Before receiving the genetically modified pig coronary heart, Bennett wanted mechanical assist to remain alive however was rejected for the standard coronary heart transplant on the University of Maryland Medical Center and different facilities.

After the surgical procedure, the transplanted pig coronary heart carried out properly for a number of weeks with none indicators of rejection. Bennett was capable of spend time along with his household and do bodily remedy to assist regain power.

“This organ transplant demonstrated for the primary time {that a} genetically modified animal coronary heart can operate like a human coronary heart with out speedy rejection by the physique,” the medical middle mentioned in a press release 3 days after the surgical procedure.

Thanks to Bennett, “we’ve gained invaluable insights studying that the genetically modified pig coronary heart can operate properly inside the human physique whereas the immune system is satisfactorily suppressed,” mentioned Mohiuddin.

“We stay optimistic and plan on persevering with our work in future medical trials,” he mentioned.

Bennett’s son, David Bennett Jr, mentioned the household is “profoundly grateful for the life-extending alternative” given to his father by the “stellar crew” on the University of Maryland School of Medicine and the University of Maryland Medical Center.

“We have been capable of spend some valuable weeks collectively whereas he recovered from the transplant surgical procedure, weeks we’d not have had with out this miraculous effort,” Bennett Jr. mentioned.

“We additionally hope that what was realized from his surgical procedure will profit future sufferers and hopefully someday, finish the organ scarcity that prices so many lives annually,” he mentioned.