For the first time in history, surgeons in the United States broke a world record by transplanting a pig’s heart into a dying patient.
On Saturday, a 57-year-old man named David Bennett underwent the nine-hour operation at the University of Maryland Medical Center in Baltimore.
According to the Daily Mail, the surgeons implanted a genetically modified pig’s heart into the patient’s body.
Surgeons used gene-editing on a pig’s heart to remove sugar from its cells that could lead the human body to reject it.
Bennett had severe heart failure and was too sick to receive a human transplant. Though he was aware that there was no certainty that the procedure would be successful, the laborer had stated that he would participate “either die or do this transplant”.
He added, “I want to live. I know it’s a shot in the dark, but it’s my last choice.”
Bennet was able to breathe on his own after the operation, albeit he was hooked up to a heart-lung machine that assisted his new heart in pumping blood around his body.
Experts estimate that it will take many weeks to assess whether his body will fully accept the organ after the equipment is removed.
Experts say it’s too early to tell if his body will fully accept the organ, and that the next three weeks will be crucial as he is weaned off the machine.
If it is successful, it will represent a medical breakthrough that potentially save thousands of lives.
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