For the 1st time, surgeons have successfully transplanted a pig heart into human patient

A team of surgeons in the operating theater.

(Image credit: iStock)

published 11 January 2022

Last week, a 57-year-old man underwent the first successful transplant of a pig heart into a human body, the University of Maryland announced Monday.

The patient, David Bennett, was not eligible for a conventional heart transplant, due to heart failure and an irregular heartbeat. Prior to the surgery, he spent six weeks in the hospital, and was connected to a heart-lung bypass machine. The Food and Drug Administration gave emergency authorization for the experimental surgery on Dec. 31.

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In a statement, Griffith called Bennett's surgery a "breakthrough." There are "simply not enough donor human hearts available to meet the long list of potential recipients," he added. "We are proceeding cautiously, but we are also optimistic that this first-in-the-world surgery will provide an important new option for patients in the future." The FDA says that every day, 10 people die in the United States while waiting for a donated organ.

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Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.

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