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There's always a first time for everything and this is one for the medical books.
Doctors at the University of Maryland Medical Center performed life saving, 7-hour long heart transplant surgery on David Bennett (57) using a genetically modified pig heart instead of a human heart.
According to WJLA, the pig heart "had undergone gene-editing to remove a sugar in its cells that's responsible for that hyper-fast organ rejection." And so far 3 days post-op, Bennett is doing well.
"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," Bennett said a day before the surgery, according to a statement provided by the University of Maryland School of Medicine.
WJLA also reports that there is a shortage of donated human organs which has prompted doctors to research the use of animal organs.
Read more here.