BALTIMORE (AP) — The man who received the first pig heart transplant is continuing to recover from the experimental surgery.
David Bennett on Tuesday was taken off the heart-lung machine that had been supporting his new heart. A spokeswoman for the University of Maryland School of Medicine said his recovery is “still day to day and will be for the next few weeks.”
The 57-year-old Bennett got the highly experimental transplant last Friday at the University of Maryland Medical Center.
Doctors gave him the genetically modified pig heart as a last-ditch effort to save his life. He was too sick to get a human heart transplant.
University of Maryland School of Medicine Faculty Scientists and Clinicians Perform Historic First Successful #Transplant of Porcine Heart into Adult Human with End-Stage Heart Disease https://t.co/h2GsyFC4t2 pic.twitter.com/0xFA51PsDk
— University of Maryland School of Medicine (@UMmedschool) January 10, 2022
Dr. Bartley Griffith provides patient insights after historic first successful transplant of porcine heart into adult human. https://t.co/h2GsyFC4t2 #pigheart #xenotransplant pic.twitter.com/TLBS7kyZfM
— University of Maryland School of Medicine (@UMmedschool) January 11, 2022