This handout photo released by the University of Maryland School of Medicine on January 10, 2022 shows surgeons performing a transplant of a heart from a genetically modified pig to patient David Bennett, Sr., in Baltimore, Maryland. – AFP photo
WASHINGTON (March 10): The first person to receive a heart transplant from a genetically-modified pig has died, two months after the groundbreaking operation, the Maryland hospital that performed the surgery announced Wednesday.
David Bennett, the 57-year-old American patient, died Tuesday at the University of Maryland Medical Centre (UMMC). Doctors did not give an exact cause of death, saying his condition had begun deteriorating several days earlier, Xinhua reported.
“There was no obvious cause identified at the time of his death,” a hospital spokeswoman said.
Bennett had the first-of-its-kind surgery on Jan 7. He had been deemed ineligible for a conventional heart transplant, and the surgery was the only currently available option for him, according to the UMMC. – Bernama