Hopes that animal transplants could one day save human lives have been raised by the recent transplant of pig hearts.
The surgeries took place in June and July, according to the Associated Press. A group of doctors from the University of Maryland Medical Center performed a pig heart transplant on a patient who died two months later.
3 kids receive a transplant without having to use immune-suppressing drugs.
The hearts of two genetically modified pigs were used to transplant the hearts of two patients who had passed away.
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CNN reported that both patients had histories of heart disease. The patients received standard post transplant medication. The patients' heart functions were monitored for three days. Representatives from NYU Langone Health said in a statement that no additional mechanical support equipment was used after the surgeries.
Robert Montgomery, director of the NYU Langone transplant institute, told CNN that operating on the deceased allowed more in-depth study of how well the recipients' bodies tolerate pig hearts. We can fill in all of the unknowns by doing a lot more frequent monitoring.
According to the National Library of Medicine, the first transplant of an animal organ into a human was from a pig in the 19th century. Efforts to transplant an animal organ into a human have been unsuccessful since then. Genetically modifying pigs to make their organs look like humans has been done in recent years. They reduce the chance that the recipient's immune system will reject it by altering the organ's growth.
There are more than 100,000 Americans on waiting lists for organ transplants according to the United Network for Organ Sharing. The FDA is considering trials that would transplant genetically modified pig hearts or kidneys into volunteers. According to NYU Langone Health, the recent surgeries will help researchers make this a reality.
It was originally published on Live Science
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