A Maryland man now has a pig to thank for his second chance at life.
In a medical first, surgeons at the University of Maryland Medical Center transplanted a pig heart into a human patient, reporting three days later that he is doing well, the University of Maryland School of Medicine announced in a press release Monday.
The patient, 57-year-old David Bennett, will be monitored over the coming weeks to see if the transplant provides “lifesaving benefits,” according to the statement.
The highly experimental surgery was the patient’s last chance to live, as he suffered from terminal heart disease and did not qualify for a human heart transplant.
“It was either die or do this transplant. I want to live. I know it’s a shot in the dark, but it’s my last choice,” Bennett said ahead of his surgery in a press release.
Surgeons received the green light to proceed after the Food and Drug Administration granted emergency authorization on New Year’s Eve.
Previously, similar transplants or xenotransplantation failed after the patients’ bodies rejected the animal organs.
While it’s too soon to tell if the operation will work, surgeons expressed hope they could be a step closer to solving the organ shortage crisis.
“We are proceeding cautiously, but we are also optimistic that this first-in-the-world surgery will provide an important new option for patients in the future,” said Bartley Griffith, director of the cardiac transplant program at the medical center.
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More than 100,000 people are on the national transplant waiting list, and more than 6,000 people die annually before receiving one, according to the Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network.
