First Pig-to-Human Heart Transplant: Genetically Modified Animal Organs Could One Day End Donor Organ Waiting Lists
University of California San Diego Health via Newswise – The first pig-to-human heart transplant, reported yesterday in the New York Times, is a watershed moment in medicine that may pave the way to using animal organs for human transplantation.
Performed January 7, 2022 at University of Maryland School of Medicine, the eight-hour surgery placed a genetically modified pig’s heart into the chest cavity of a 57-year-old man with life-threatening heart disease. The heart was modified to resist rejection by the human immune system.
The medical achievement offers hope to hundreds of thousands of patients with failing organs, of which approximately a dozen die on waiting lists every day. (Though 3,817 Americans received human donor hearts last year — more than 80 at UC San Diego Health alone — demand greatly exceeds supply.)
To read the original article click here.
