Surgeons transplanted a pig91裸聊视频檚 kidney into a brain-dead man and for over a month it91裸聊视频檚 worked normally 91裸聊视频� a critical step toward an operation the New York team hopes to eventually try in living patients.
Scientists around the country are racing to learn how to use , and offer a remarkable rehearsal.
The latest experiment announced Wednesday by NYU Langone Health marks the longest a pig kidney has functioned in a person, albeit a deceased one -91裸聊视频� and it91裸聊视频檚 not over. Researchers are set to track the kidney91裸聊视频檚 performance for a second month.
91裸聊视频淚s this organ really going to work like a human organ? So far it91裸聊视频檚 looking like it is,91裸聊视频� Dr. Robert Montgomery, director of NYU Langone91裸聊视频檚 transplant institute, told The Associated Press.
91裸聊视频淚t looks even better than a human kidney,91裸聊视频� Montgomery said on July 14 as he replaced a deceased man91裸聊视频檚 own kidneys with a single kidney from a genetically modified pig 91裸聊视频� and watched it immediately start producing urine.
The possibility that pig kidneys might one day help ease a dire shortage of transplantable organs persuaded the family of the 57-year-old Maurice 91裸聊视频淢o91裸聊视频� Miller from upstate New York to donate his body for the experiment.
91裸聊视频淚 struggled with it,91裸聊视频� his sister, Mary Miller-Duffy, told the AP. But he liked helping others and 91裸聊视频淚 think this is what my brother would want. So I offered my brother to them.91裸聊视频�
91裸聊视频淗e91裸聊视频檚 going to be in the medical books, and he will live on forever,91裸聊视频� she added.
It91裸聊视频檚 the latest in a string of developments renewing hope for animal-to-human transplants, or xenotransplantation, after decades of failure as people91裸聊视频檚 immune systems attacked the foreign tissue. What91裸聊视频檚 different this time around: Pigs are being genetically modified so their organs better match human bodies.
Last year, University of Maryland surgeons made history by transplanting a gene-edited pig heart into a dying man who was out of other options. He survived only two months before the organ failed for reasons that but that offer lessons for future attempts.
Now, the Food and Drug Administration is considering whether to allow some small but rigorous studies of pig heart or kidney transplants in volunteer patients.
And it91裸聊视频檚 critical to answer some remaining questions 91裸聊视频渋n a setting where we91裸聊视频檙e not putting someone91裸聊视频檚 life in jeopardy,91裸聊视频� said Montgomery, the NYU kidney transplant surgeon who also received his own heart transplant 91裸聊视频� and is acutely aware of the need for a new source of organs.
More than 100,000 patients are on the nation91裸聊视频檚 transplant list and thousands die each year waiting.
NYU and a team at the University of Alabama at Birmingham had tested pig kidney transplants in deceased recipients for just two or three days. An NYU team also had transplanted pig hearts into donated bodies for three days of intense testing.
But how do pig organs react to a more common human immune attack that takes about a month to form? Only longer testing might tell.
The surgery itself isn91裸聊视频檛 that different from thousands he91裸聊视频檚 performed 91裸聊视频渂ut somewhere in the back of your mind is the enormity of what you91裸聊视频檙e doing 91裸聊视频� recognizing that this could have a huge impact on the future of transplantation,91裸聊视频� Montgomery said.
The operation took careful timing. Early that morning Drs. Adam Griesemer and Jeffrey Stern flew hundreds of miles to a facility where Virginia-based Revivicor Inc. houses genetically modified pigs 91裸聊视频� and retrieved kidneys lacking a gene that would trigger immediate destruction by the human immune system.
As they raced back to NYU, Montgomery was removing both kidneys from the donated body so there91裸聊视频檇 be no doubt if the soon-to-arrive pig version was working. One pig kidney was transplanted, the other stored for comparison when the experiment ends.
91裸聊视频淵ou91裸聊视频檙e always nervous,91裸聊视频� Griesemer said. To see it so rapidly kickstart, 91裸聊视频渢here was a lot of thrill and lot of sense of relief.91裸聊视频�
The University of Maryland91裸聊视频檚 Dr. Muhammad Mohiuddin cautions that it91裸聊视频檚 not clear how closely a deceased body will mimic a live patient91裸聊视频檚 reactions to a pig organ 91裸聊视频� but that this research educates the public about xenotransplantation so 91裸聊视频減eople will not be shocked91裸聊视频� when it91裸聊视频檚 time to try again in the living.
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