Pig Heart Transplant Patient Passes Away

🐷🫀 The 57-year-old man who received a genetically modified pig’s heart in a first-of-its-kind transplant died yesterday, two months after the groundbreaking surgery. It wasn’t immediately clear if his body rejected the organ.

• Dave Bennett, who was deemed ineligible for a regular human heart, instead received a heart from a one-year-old pig that was genetically modified so his body wouldn’t reject it.
• Pigs have long been used in human medicine, since their organs are anatomically similar to ours. They're also less likely to have unique diseases due to close contact with humans for generations.
• At the time of the operation, Bennett said, “It was either die or do this transplant. I want to live. I know it’s a shot in the dark, but it’s my last choice.”

🇺🇸 Zoom out: Roughly 106,000 Americans are on the organ transplant list, and about 17 of them die each day.

+Another heart first: Duke University doctors recently performed a special infant heart transplant that involved implanting tissue that matched the donated organ. This procedure theoretically eliminates the need for immunosuppressant drugs, which are often toxic.