On Monday, for the first time in medical history, doctors transplanted a pig’s heart into a patient. To save patience’s life, the last-ditch effort was made at Maryland hospital where he is said to be doing fine after three days of highly experimental surgery.
57-year-old Maryland handyman, David Bennett was aware of the fact that this experiment has no guarantee. However, he agreed as he had no option and he was dying, and ineligible for a human heart transplant. He said that it was a do-or-die situation for him and he wanted to live.
On Monday, he was able to breathe on his own while being connected to a heart-lung machine that supported his new heart. He is under the doctor’s careful observation.
However, it is too early to know if the operation will really work. It answered the long quest of using animal organs for saving human lives. The lack of human organs shortage for an organ transplant, driving scientists to try animal organs instead.
United Network for Organ Sharing, which oversees the nation’s transplant system, says there were just over 3,800 heart transplants last year, a record number.
