Man Who Received Pig Heart Transplant Dies 2 Months Later

David Bennet, a man, who in January 2022 received a heart transplant from a pig, has died two months after the groundbreaking experiment.

Bennet, 57, died on Tuesday at a hospital in Maryland in the United States and the doctors said that “his condition began deteriorating several days ago.”

The hospital added that Bennett was given “compassionate palliative care” after it became clear that he would not recover.

“We are devastated by the loss of Mr. Bennett. He proved to be a brave and noble patient who fought to the end,” Dr. Bartley Griffith, who performed the surgery at the Baltimore hospital, said in a statement.

The transplant was experimental and was the last hope of saving Bennet’s life. The procedure took seven hours in Baltimore. However, even then, it was not clear what his long-term chances of survival were going to be.

“It was either die or do this transplant,” Mr. Bennett explained a day before the surgery. “I know it’s a shot in the dark, but it’s my last choice.”

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 Mr. Bennett – who has terminal heart disease – would otherwise have died.

After the January 7 operation, Bennet’s new heart was functioning just fine and the Maryland hospital issued periodic updates that he seemed to be slowly recovering.

RELATED: Man Receives The Heart Of Pig In A Historic Transplant

In February, the hospital released a video of him watching the Super Bowl from his hospital bed while working with his physical therapist.

Bennett’s son applauded the hospital for offering his father the opportunity to extend his life, however short-lived it was, saying the family hoped it would help further efforts to end the organ shortage.

“We are grateful for every innovative moment, every crazy dream, every sleepless night that went into this historic effort,” David Bennett Jr said in a statement released by the University of Maryland School of Medicine.

“We hope this story can be the beginning of hope and not the end,” he added.

Bennet’s gene-edited pig heart extended his life longer than in one of the last milestones in xenotransplantation – when Baby Fae, a dying California infant, lived 21 days with a baboon’s heart in 1984.

Meanwhile, the need for an alternative source of organs is huge across the globe. Over the years, doctors have become committed to ensuring that one-day animal organs can be used to save lives.

“From Bennet’s experience, we have gained invaluable insights learning that the genetically modified pig heart can function well within the human body while the immune system is adequately suppressed,” said Dr. Muhammad Mohiuddin, scientific director of the Maryland university’s animal-to-human transplant program.