US man becomes the first to get successful pig heart transplant into human body

David Bennett, 57, of the USA has become the first person in the world to get a heart transplant from a genetically-modified pig.
The transplant was considered the last hope of saving Mr Bennett's life, though it is not yet clear what his long-term chances of survival are. Bennett is now doing well three days after the experimental seven-hour procedure in Baltimore. Doctors at the University of Maryland Medical Center were granted a special dispensation by the US medical regulator to carry out the procedure, on the basis that Mr Bennett would otherwise have died. For the medical team it marks the culmination of years of research and could change lives around the world. The possibility of using animal organs for so-called xenotransplantation to meet the demand has long been considered, and using pig heart valves is already common. The pig used in the transplant had been genetically modified to knock out several genes that would have led to the organ being rejected by Mr Bennett's body.
Mr Bennett was bedridden for six weeks leading up to the surgery, and attached to a machine which kept him alive after he was diagnosed with terminal heart disease.