PITTSBURGH -- Doctors at UPMC performed the nation's first transplant with a beating heart.

It's not only an incredible sight, but it means a better chance of success for the patient.

The heart was successfully transplanted into a 47-year-old man with congestive heart failure and pulmonary hypertension on April 8.

Officials said the patient is doing well and was discharged from the hospital on April 30.

The donated heart was maintained in a beating state on the investigational Organ Care System (OCS) for two hours and 45 minutes.

The OCS is designed to maintain donor hearts in a beating, functioning state during transportation from the donor to the recipient's hospital.

After removal from the donor, the heart is placed into the OCS, where it is immediately revived to a beating state, perfused with oxygen and nutrient-rich blood and maintained at the appropriate temperature.

Using the OCS, organs are kept in their physiological, beating state for delivery to the recipient and until implantation.

Last month, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved TransMedics Inc. to begin the pilot phase of a trial of the investigational device exemption at five centers in the United States.

In addition to UPMC, other centers participating include Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston, the UCLA Medical Center in Los Angeles, the University of Chicago Hospitals Cardiac Center, and the Cleveland Clinic Heart and Vascular Institute.