World's first successful pig-to-human heart xenotransplant at University of Maryland Medical Center

United Therapeutics/UHeart

Surgeons at the University of Maryland Medical Center performed the world's first transplant of a genetically modified pig heart into a living patient under FDA compassionate-use authorization. The patient, David Bennett, survived for two months post-transplant before succumbing to a porcine virus infection, demonstrating the feasibility of xenotransplant but highlighting ongoing challenges.