Doctors transplanted pig hearts into two people
Miscellaneous / / July 13, 2022
In the future, such operations may solve the problem of shortage of donor organs.
New York University staff held two pig heart transplants in humans. They performed 10 genetic modifications to the organ so that the human body does not reject foreign tissue. For 72 hours of observation, this did not happen, and both manipulations were recognized as successful.
The experiments were carried out with people whose brain died. But the work of other organs was supported by artificial ventilation of the lungs. Such operations were made possible by the consent of the patients' relatives, who approved the "donation of the whole body" in favor of science.
The operation was performed using conventional transplant preparations. The researchers deliberately did not use the experimental drugs. They want such surgeries to be carried out in conventional hospitals in the future.
This year, doctors at the University of Maryland Medical Center transplanted a pig's heart into a living human. However, he died two months after transplantation - due to the fact that the organ was infected with a virus.
The transplantation of organs from one species to another is called xenotransplantation. Scientists hope that through such experiments they will be able to provide additional donor organs to those who are in dire need of them.
The researchers note that they still have a long way to go to make the transition to clinical transplantation.
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