US surgeons have transplanted a pig kidney into a patient
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US surgeons have transplanted a pig kidney into a patient
Subject: Science and tech
Section: Health
Context:
- Doctors in Boston announced Thursday they have transplanted a genetically modified pig kidney into a 62-year-old patient.
More on news:
- Massachusetts General Hospital said it’s the first time a pig kidney has been transplanted into a living person.
- Previously, pig kidneys have been temporarily transplanted into brain-dead donors.
- Two men received heart transplants from pigs, although both died within months.
- The announcement marks the latest development in xenotransplantation, the term for efforts to try to heal human patients with cells, tissues, or organs from animals.
About Xenotransplantation:
- It is any procedure that involves the transplantation, implantation or infusion into a human recipient of either
- (a) live cells, tissues, or organs from a nonhuman animal source, or
- (b) human body fluids, cells, tissues or organs that have had ex vivo contact with live nonhuman animal cells, tissues or organs.
- The development of xenotransplantation is, in part, driven by the fact that the demand for human organs for clinical transplantation far exceeds the supply.
