NEW YORK: A 57-year-old man who received a genetically modified pig's heart died on Tuesday, authorities at the University of Maryland Medical Center said. David Bennett received the transplant on January 7.

Although doctors haven't divulged any details about the exact cause of death, they said that his health condition had deteriorated some days back. They also said that Bennet was given compassionate palliative care after it became clear that he would not survive.

Bennett was first admitted to the hospital in October after suffering from a terminal heart disease. He was deemed ineligible for a conventional heart transplant or an artificial heart pump after reviews of his medical records. Following this, the doctors decided to implant the heart of a genetically modified pig. Thus, Bennett received the transplant on January 7.

The surgery, performed by a team at the hospital, was among the first to demonstrate the feasibility of a pig-to-human heart transplant, a field made possible by new gene-editing tools.