A scientific breakthrough that gives hope to patients waiting for organ donation. A pig kidney continues to function 32 days after being transplanted into a brain-dead human, the longest period without rejection observed for such operations, a US scientific team announced Wednesday.
These animal-to-human organ transplants, also called xenografts, are being developed in hopes of addressing the chronic shortage of organ donations. More than 100,000 Americans are currently on the waiting list for an organ transplant, of whom nearly 88,000 are waiting for a kidney.
The transplant in question was performed at NYU Langone Hospital in New York City on July 14 on a brain-dead 57-year-old man. This man received life support after donating his body to science. His kidneys were then removed during an operation and replaced with a kidney from a genetically modified pig, so the human body wouldn’t immediately reject the organ.
“There are not enough organs available”
These 32 days represent “the longest period during which a genetically modified pig kidney has functioned in a human,” the hospital said in a press release, indicating that it plans to continue testing for another month.
This team has performed several xenografts in recent years, including the world’s first transplant from a pig kidney to a human, in September 2021.
A pig heart was also transplanted into a living human for the first time by a University of Maryland hospital in 2022. The man died two months after the operation.
“There just aren’t enough organs available for everyone who needs them,” said Dr. Robert Montgomery, director of NYU’s Langone Transplant Institute. “Too many people die due to a lack of available organs. I strongly believe that xenografts are a viable way to change that.”
Source: BFM TV
