Pig to human heart surgery is a real thing and it’s called xenotransplantation; as pigs have similar organs to humans. Nonetheless, a pig to human heart surgery was performed at MD Univ. School Of Medicine and surprisingly things have been going quite well for Dave Bennet, 57. Initially, he went into the UofMD Medical Center with a plethora of health issues, including severe chest pains that started in October, according to Bennet’s son.
Moreover, Dr. Bartley Griffith was the lead surgeon at the Maryland Univ. School of Medicine who gave this man longer life with a pig’s heart inside his chest; making this the first time a gene-edited pig has been used as an organ donor. Bennett signed up to be the first ‘guinea pig’ for the experiment and he’s had the pig heart for three days now.
“This is nothing short of a miracle”, his son and namesake, David said on Sunday; two days after his father’s ‘unusual’ surgery. “That’s why my Dad needed and that’s what I feel like he got”.
Even though doctors plan to wean him off, Bennett is simultaneously on a ventilator; which does about 50% of the work for him as he remains on an ECMO machine that pumps blood through his body.
Thousands On Organ Transplant Waitlist
In the meantime, with this new technology; the 10,000 people on the waitlist for a transplant could be saved; since about 6,000 people die every year waiting for a human donor. People would never have to be considered for transplants.