Recipient Of Pig Heart Transplant Passes Away

In Trenton Canada, US medical practitioners made history by successfully using a pig’s heart for transplant. Of course, there was no success guaranteed as it was a first, and David Bennet, 57, had no other option available according to his son.

Luckily, the surgery was successful with, Mr. Bennet surviving. It was stated that, if this transplant works out, the need for human organs would decrease- hence decreasing the death ratio and increasing the chance of not losing human lives to heart-related diseases.

However, Mr. Bennet, after 3 months of the surgery, has returned to his creator. He was fully aware of the risks attached to this surgery, and is reported to have said this a day before his surgery:

"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”

Read More: Man receives the heart from genetically modified pig, another milestone in medical science

Looking back at the trend, this particular method has not really worked. In 1984, a baboon’s heart was transplanted into a baby girl who could not survive more than a period of 21 days. Later it was said, that a gene-editing step was required, to eliminate the sugar from the cells that cause rejection of organs. Earlier, prior to the January revolutionary transplant, a pig liver was also transplanted in September 2021 in New York.

Initially, it was believed that this surgery was a success, but now there is a lot of uncertainty regarding its success- whether the cause of failure was the transplant or Mr. Bennet’s already existing health issues.