American man becomes first to get a genetically-modified pig heart transplant

A 57 year old American man in Baltimore has become the first human to get a heart transplant from a genetically engineered pig after undergoing seven-hour experimental surgery. The day before the surgery, the patient David Bennett told reporters “it was either die or do this transplant,” that the experimental surgery is a “shot in the dark,” but it’s his “last choice.”

According to the doctors who have given the best chance for his survival, their patient is reportedly doing well, although his long-term possibilities of survival remain a question. He was said to be breathing on his own on Monday, although being closely watched.

The US medical authorities granted a special license to doctors at the University of Maryland Medical Centre to carry out the surgery as he was ineligible for a human transplant. According to surgeon Bartley Griffith, who took part in the…