Scientists Just Transplanted a Pig Liver Into a Person for the First Time
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Summary
Chinese scientists have conducted the first recorded transplant of a pig liver into a human, in a breakthrough that could eventually solve the crisis in availability of donor organs.
The liver, taken from a gene-edited pig, was hooked up to the blood supply of a brain-dead patient and stayed functional for 10 days with hardly any signs of rejection or inflammation.
The technique is unlikely to be used for routine transplants, because of the risks involved and the fact that pig livers are generally not equipped to replace human livers, which are far more complex.
However, the work could lead to pig livers being used as a stopgap to keep patients alive until a human donor organ becomes available, or until their own liver recovers.
Patients currently have to join lengthy transplant waiting lists, with more than 104,600 people in the USA currently on waitlists.
