First pig-heart transplant patient dies two months later. What did doctors learn?
A man with terminal heart disease has died two months after receiving the first genetically-modified pig heart, his doctors said.
Patient David Bennett, Sr. was the first human to receive this groundbreaking procedure and made international headlines after what was described as a “successful transplant.”
The pig-heart transplant surgery was completed on Jan. 7 at the University of Maryland Medical Center, and Bennett died on Tuesday, March 8 at 57 years old, according to a news release from the School of Medicine.
It was clear Bennett would not survive after his condition started deteriorating several days prior to his death, his medical team said.
“We are devastated by the loss of Mr. Bennett,” Dr. Bartley P. Griffith, the doctor who surgically placed the pig heart into Bennett’s chest, said in a statement. “He proved to be a brave and noble patient who fought all the way to the end. We extend our sincerest condolences to his family.”
What did doctors learn from pig-heart transplant?
While Bennett died soon after receiving his new heart, his medical team says they learned from this “first-of-its-kind” procedure, which was completed under emergency authorization by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration “in the hope of saving his life.”
Dr. Muhammad M. Mohiuddin, professor of surgery and scientific director of the school’s Cardiac Xenotransplantation Program, says they learned a “genetically modified pig heart can function well within the human body while the immune system is adequately suppressed.”
“We remain optimistic and plan on continuing our work in future clinical trials,” Mohiuddin said in a statement.
Griffith says this surgery, like any “first-in-the-world transplant surgery,” provided “valuable insights that will hopefully inform transplant surgeons to improve outcomes and potentially provide lifesaving benefits to future patients.”
His family says: ‘Fight like Dave’
Bennett’s son, David Bennett, Jr., described this procedure as a “life-extending opportunity provided to my father,” according to a family statement shared by UMMC.
When his dad came to UMMC in October 2021, doctors said he was bedridden and needed a heart-lung bypass machine to stay alive.
“He was deemed ineligible for a conventional heart transplant,” according to the news release. “Before consenting to receive the transplant, Mr. Bennett, was fully informed of the procedure’s risks, and that the procedure was experimental with unknown risks and benefits.”
Bennett, Jr. says his dad wanted to fight, and this transplant surgery gave them time that otherwise would not have been available to them.
“Up until the end, my father wanted to continue fighting to preserve his life and spend more time with his beloved family, including his two sisters, his two children, and his five grandchildren, and his cherished dog Lucky,” Bennett, Jr. said in a statement. “We were able to spend some precious weeks together while he recovered from the transplant surgery, weeks we would not have had without this miraculous effort.”
His son wants others to have hope from his dad’s journey.
“We also hope that what was learned from his surgery will benefit future patients and hopefully one day, end the organ shortage that costs so many lives each year,” he said. “We are grateful for every innovative moment, every crazy dream, every sleepless night that went into this historic effort. We pray that those looking for hope will continue to fight for the future, fight for new ideas, fight for answers, fight for life. Fight like Dave.”
This story was originally published March 9, 2022 at 11:32 AM with the headline "First pig-heart transplant patient dies two months later. What did doctors learn?."