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David Bennett, the world’s first human to receive a genetically modified pig heart, has died just two months following the historic transplantation. Doctors at the University of Maryland Medical Center, where the surgery was performed, announced his passing Wednesday morning. At this time, the cause of death is reportedly unclear. Bennett, 57, received the heart on January 7, which was announced by the University of Maryland three days later. He had been diagnosed with a terminal heart condition and bedridden for months, but his severe arrhythmia (an irregular heartbeat that can predispose people to heart attack or other cardiac illness)...

David Bennett died on Tuesday after his condition began to deteriorate several days ago, the medical center said. He was given palliative care and was able to communicate with his family during his final hours, according to the news release. Bennett had terminal heart disease, and had received a transplant on January 7. Bennett was deemed ineligible for a conventional heart transplant or an artificial heart pump after reviews of his medical records, and the pig heart was the only available option, the medical center said at the time. Revivicor, a regenerative medicine company based in Virginia, had provided the...

HUMAN-animal hybrids could be used to grow lifesaving organs and replacement limbs - but some fear it may be scientists "playing God". History has been made as David Bennett, 57, from Maryland in the US, had a genetically-modified pig heart implanted into his chest. Bennett had terminal heart disease, and underwent the bizarre-sounding procedure as a last hope - and he is now doing well three days after the operation. And in the past scientists have used the techniques to splice human and monkey embryos together, transplant fetal organs into rats, and even grow human ears on mice. The idea...

Doctors in Baltimore have transplanted a genetically-modified pig heart into a patient in a last-ditch effort to save his life, in a medical first. Three days later, David Bennett, 57, is said to be recovering and doing well after the nine-hour procedure. Experts say it is too soon to know if the operation really will work, but it marks a step forward in the decades-long quest to one day use animal organs for life-saving transplants. Bennett is breathing on his own without a ventilator, but is still using a Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation (ECMO) machine that helps pump blood throughout his...

A man is doing well after the first successful transplant of a pig heart into a human body, possibly opening a new path for those facing an overburdened donor system, according to the University of Maryland. The Food and Drug Administration on New Year’s Eve gave emergency authorization for David Bennett, 57, to receive a genetically modified pig heart, the University of Maryland Medical Center said. Bennett, who had been deemed ineligible for a conventional heart transplant, had been hospitalized for six weeks with a life-threatening arrhythmia and was connected to a heart-lung bypass machine. Dr. Bartley Griffith, the operating...

A Maryland man is doing well after surgeons and clinicians from the University of Maryland School of Medicine and the University of Maryland Medical Center performed the first successful transplant of a genetically modified pig’s heart Friday to save his life, officials from the health system said Monday. After being diagnosed with terminal heart disease, the patient, 57-year-old David Bennett, had been deemed ineligible for a conventional heart transplant at the University of Maryland Medical Center and other transplant centers around the country. Doctors will monitor him in the hospital over the next several weeks or months to ensure that...