The recipient of the pig heart continues to recover after the transplant

BALTIMORE (AP) – The man who received the first pig heart transplant continued his recovery Tuesday, four days after his experimental surgery.

Since the transplant, David Bennett has been connected to a heart-lung machine to support his new heart. According to Deborah Kotz, a spokeswoman for the University of Maryland School of Medicine, he was taken off the machine Tuesday.

“It is still daily and will be for the next few weeks,” Kotz said in an email.

Bennett, 57, received the highly experimental transplant last Friday at the University of Maryland Medical Center. Doctors gave him the genetically modified pig heart as a last-ditch effort to save his life.

Doctors said Bennett’s condition – heart failure and irregular heartbeat – made him ineligible for a heart transplant or a heart pump.

Because of the shortage of human organs for transplantation, scientists have been trying to figure out how to use animal organs instead. The heart is taken from a pig that has been genetically modified to make the human body less susceptible to rejection.

The Food and Drug Administration, which oversees such experiments, has authorized surgery under so-called “compassionate use” emergency authorizations, which are available when a patient is threatened. Life has no other choice.