Man, 62, in Boston is given a PIG’S kidney just days after Chinese doctors transplanted liver from hog into 50-year-old patient, in twin medical breakthroughs
Animal-to-human transplant science took a major step forward this week after surgeons transplanted a kidney and liver from pigs into humans.
In Boston, a sick 62-year-old man received a genetically modified kidney from a pig in a world first.
The new organ began producing urine almost immediately, Mass General doctors said, and the patient is already walking the hospital hallways. He may be fired soon.
At the same time, in China, a 50-year-old man became the first person to receive a genetically engineered pig liver – which was kept in his body for ten days.
Surgeons say the organ’s color and texture appeared “normal” when extracted, and it even secreted bile – a fluid that aids digestion – as a sign that it was working.
Both breakthroughs could offer hope for new ways to supply hospitals with organs for transplants, as the waiting list has been growing for years.
Surgeons in the US have successfully transplanted a pig kidney into a human for the first time
How did it work? This image shows the process from the pig embryo to attaching the organ to a human patient. The patient in Boston received a genetically modified pig kidney
There are more than 100,000 patients on the waiting list for a new kidney in the US, while almost 12,000 are waiting for a new liver.
Patients on the kidney transplant list – such as those with kidney failure and advanced kidney disease – can wait three to five years.
Today, many are in pain and need to use dialysis – a machine that filters waste products from the blood when the kidneys stop working.
For liver transplant patients, these individuals – including those with liver failure, cirrhosis or scarring of the liver – may wait up to five years, depending on how urgently they need the transplant.
Due to shortages, around 5,000 people die every year while on the waiting list for a kidney, while one in ten of those on the liver waiting list also do not survive.
It is hoped that organ transplants from animals – medically called xenotransplantation – can help solve the crisis and ensure that many more people get the organs they desperately need.