US man who got 1st pig heart transplant dies after 2 months

By LAURAN NEERGAARD and CARLA K. JOHNSON
AP Medical Writers

A Maryland hospital says the first person to receive a heart transplant from a pig has died. The University of Maryland Medical Center announced that the 57-year-old man died Tuesday, two months after the groundbreaking experiment. Doctors for decades have sought to use animal organs for life-saving transplants. David Bennett was a candidate for the dramatic attempt only because he was dying and wasn’t eligible for a human heart transplant. Prior attempts at such transplants have failed largely because patients’ bodies rapidly rejected the animal organ. This time, the Maryland surgeons used a heart from a gene-edited pig to help prevent rejection.