Incredible: US surgeons transplant pig’s heart into human, break world record
United States surgeons have broken a world record as they transplanted the heart of a pig into a dying patient for the very first time in the world.
The operation, which took about nine hours to complete, was conducted on a 57-year-old man, David Bennett, at the University of Maryland Medical Center in Baltimore on Saturday.
The surgeons transplanted a genetically-modified pig’s heart into the patient’s body, Daily Mail reported on Monday.
Surgeons subjected the pig’s heart to gene-editing, in order to remove sugar in its cells that may cause the human body to reject it.
Bennett was suffering from terminal heart failure and was too sick to qualify for a human transplant. Though he knew that there was no guarantee the operation would work, the labourer had said that he would “either die or do this transplant”.
The surgeons transplanted a genetically-modified pig’s heart into the patient’s body, Daily Mail reported on Monday.
Surgeons subjected the pig’s heart to gene-editing, in order to remove sugar in its cells that may cause the human body to reject it.
He added, “I want to live. I know it’s a shot in the dark, but it’s my last choice.”
After the operation, Bennet was able to breathe on his own though he was connected to a heart-lung machine that helped his new heart pump blood around his body.
He added, “I want to live. I know it’s a shot in the dark, but it’s my last choice.”
After the operation, Bennet was able to breathe on his own though he was connected to a heart-lung machine that helped his new heart pump blood around his body.
