The man who successfully transplanted a genetically modified pig heart for the first time died in January

David Bennett, the man who died in early January, aged 57 on Tuesday planted For the first time successfully genetically modified pig heart. Bennett had surgery last January 7 in a hospital in Baltimore, United States, and was initially helped by some machines: After the operation, specialists from the University of Maryland Medical Center announced that the new heart was working and that “everything seemed normal.” The medical center did not specify the cause of Bennett’s death, but stated in its report that his health had deteriorated in recent days.

The technique of organ transplantation, i.e. transplanting organs of other types to be grafted into humans, is promising because it allows for the possibility of not relying exclusively on human donors. However, all attempts prior to Jan’s surgery failed mainly due to rejection, the process in which the body does not recognize the new organ as its own and attacks it as a threat.

at press release University Medical Center David Bennett Jr., Bennett’s son, shared he was “grateful for every moment of innovation, every crazy dream, and every sleepless night that led to this historic achievement,” and he wishes the father’s story “could be the beginning of hope” for tens of thousands. Of patients who need a heart transplant every year, “not the end.”

– Read also: The first heart transplant from a genetically modified pig