Pig heart successfully implanted in human

WASHINGTON－Surgeons in the United States have successfully implanted a heart from a genetically modified pig into a 57-year-old man, a medical first that could one day help solve the chronic shortage of organ donations.

The historic procedure took place on Friday, said the University of Maryland Medical School in a statement on Monday. While the patient's prognosis is far from certain, it represents a major milestone for animal to human transplantation.

The patient, David Bennett, had been deemed ineligible for organ transplant－a decision that is often taken when the recipient has very poor underlying health.

He is now recovering and being carefully monitored to determine how the new organ performs.

"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," said the Maryland resident the day before the surgery.

"I look forward to getting out of bed after I recover."

Bennett has spent the last several months bedridden on a heart-lung bypass machine.

The Food and Drug Administration granted emergency authorization for the surgery on New Year's Eve, as a last-ditch effort for a patient who was unsuitable for conventional transplant.

'Breakthrough surgery'

"This was a breakthrough surgery and brings us one step closer to solving the organ shortage crisis," said Bartley Griffith, who surgically transplanted the pig heart.

"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."

Muhammad Mohiuddin, who co-founded the university's cardiac xenotransplantation program, added that the surgery was the culmination of years of research, involving pig-to-baboon transplants with survival times that exceeded nine months.

"The successful procedure provided valuable information to help the medical community improve this potentially lifesaving method in future patients," he said.

Bennett's donor pig belonged to a herd that had undergone genetic editing procedures.

Three genes that would have led to the rejection of pig organs by humans were "knocked out", as was a gene that would have led to excessive growth of pig heart tissue.

Six human genes responsible for human acceptance were inserted into the genome for a total of 10 unique gene edits.

About 110,000 people in the US are currently waiting for an organ transplant, and more than 6,000 patients die each year before getting one, according to official figures.

Doctors have long been interested in so-called xenotransplantation, or cross-species organ donation, with experiments dating back to the 17th century.

Agencies via Xinhua