A pig heart has been transplanted into a living human recipient For the second time in history.

For the second time in history, a pig heart has been transplanted into a living human recipient, the University of Maryland Medical Center announced Friday.

The groundbreaking surgery was performed Sept. 20 at UMMC by the same transplant team that performed the first experimental surgery of its kind in 2022.

In a news release, the hospital said the recipient, Lawrence Faucette, 58, "is currently breathing on his own and his heart is functioning well without the aid of assistive devices."

In

, Faucette had an incurable heart disease. He already had peripheral vascular disease and complications with internal bleeding that made him unsuitable for a traditional heart transplant, the hospital's statement said.He was admitted to UMMC on September 14 after experiencing symptoms of heart failure.

“The only real hope I have left is to opt for the pig heart, xenotransplantation,” Faucette told the hospital in an internal interview a few days before the operation.

The experimental xenotransplantation received the green light under the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's Compassionate Use program. According to the FDA, the program is “a potential opportunity for a patient with a serious or immediately life-threatening disease or condition to obtain access to an investigational medical product (drug, biologic, or medical device) for treatment outside of clinical trials.” There are no comparable or satisfactory alternative treatment options available.”

The pig heart used came from a genetically modified pig from Revivcor, a subsidiary of United Therapeutics Corporation.The pig had 10 genes altered, including three "deleted" or inactivated genes, to eliminate alpha-gal sugar in the pig's blood cells, which can trigger a severe reaction in the human immune system and lead to organ rejection. An additional pig gene was modified to control pig heart growth, while six human genes were added to the pig genome to increase acceptance by the immune system. The FDA approved genetically modified pigs for potential therapeutic use and consumption for the first time in 2020.

Doctors are also treating Faucette with an experimental antibody treatment to further suppress the immune system and prevent rejection. Close monitoring will be carried out for signs of rejection or the development of porcine viruses.The donor pig was also thoroughly examined for signs of viruses or pathogens.

“Once again, we are offering a dying patient the opportunity to live a longer life, and we are incredibly grateful to Mr. Faucette for his courage and willingness to expand our knowledge in this area,” said Dr. Bartley Griffith in the statement. . Griffith is the surgeon who performed the transplant and a professor of surgery at the University of Maryland School of Medicine.

The hospital said Faucette fully consented to the experimental treatment and was informed of all risks. In addition, he underwent a comprehensive psychiatric evaluation and discussed his case with a medical ethicist.

According to the hospital's news release, Faucette is a married father of two from Frederick, Maryland, and a 20-year Navy veteran who most recently worked as a laboratory technician at the National Institutes of Health before retiring.

“We have no expectations other than to spend more time together,” his wife Ann Faucette said in the statement. “It could be as simple as sitting on the porch and drinking coffee together.” There are currently no clinical trials on transplanting pig organs into living humans. The University of Maryland performed the first experimental surgery of its kind on David Bennett, 57, in January 2022.Bennett died two months after surgery.

While there were no signs of rejection in the first few weeks after the transplant, an autopsy concluded that Bennett ultimately died of heart failure due to "a complex array of factors," including Bennett's condition before surgery. Bennet had been hospitalized and placed on a heart-lung machine six weeks before the transplant. However, a case study published in The Lancet by doctors also noted that there was evidence of a swine virus that had not previously been identified.

According to the federal government, more than 113,000 people are on the organ transplant list, including 3,354 people who need a heart.The group Donate Life America says 17 people die every day while waiting for an organ from a donor.