could eventually lead to the regular use of animal organs in human transplants. 0ur north america correspondent, david willis reports. inside the box was the heart of a 240 pound pig. genetically engineered to survive inside a human body. but the question was, would the transplant work? after toiling for nearly nine hours, surgeons at the university of maryland medical centre removed the clamp restricting blood to the new organ and declared that it had. the pigs heart was pumping away, keeping alive a patient for whom all other options had run out. 0n the operating table was 57 year old dave bennett, pictured here with his son and daughter. when doctors first proposed a pig s heart transplant, he thought they were joking, but four days on, he s said to be doing well and his doctors sound increasingly optimistic.
broken the world record for daily covid cases and, record numbers are in hospital with covid, too. the british prime minister boris johnson is under growing pressure over a downing street drinks party when large gatherings were banned. a 57 year old man in america who received the heart of a genetically modified pig in a first of its kind operation is doing extremely well . that s according to his son who spoke to the bbc and said the result was an absolute miracle . if the procedure does prove to be successful, it could lead to animal organs being used more frequently in human transplants. this report from our medical editor fergus walsh contains pictures of the operation. this is the gene edited pig heart, ready for transplant into a human. the organ looks perfect, a good size, and the extraction of the organ went routinely.
and the first person to receive heart transplant from a pig has died two months after the groundbreaking experiment. officials at the university of maryland medical center are not giving an exact cause of death for 57-year-old david bennett. they say his condition had begun deteriorating several days ago. doctors are hoping they can eventually use animal organs for life-saving transplants in humans. up next, the ukraine conflict is leading both republicans and democrats to push for more defense spending but up on capitol hill today, covid funding was pulled out, a busy day on the hill. we will take you there live after a short break.
Reality star Heidi Montag has turned to a raw meat diet to address her fertility issues, telling People magazine she has been eating animal organs to help her conceive her second child with husband Spencer Pratt.
Leading surgeon David Cooper talks about the dawn of a new era of transplantation in which organs for human transplants come from genetically modified animals