Trending Clinical Topic: Xenotransplantation
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According to a report from the Global Observatory on Donation and Transplantation, 10% or less of global needs for organ transplantation were met in 2020. More than 100,000 patients are on a transplant waiting list in the United States alone. As such, news about groundbreaking animal-to-human organ transplants captured much recent attention.
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@udipta In October 2021, surgeons at NYU Langone Health in New York City transplanted a pig kidney into a brain-dead patient without triggering immediate rejection for the first time. That pig's genes had also been altered so that its tissues no longer contained a molecule known to trigger near-immediate rejection. For 3 days, the new kidney was attached to the recipient's blood vessels and maintained outside her body, giving researchers access to it. Test results of the transplanted kidney's function appeared normal, with no evidence of the vigorous, early rejection typically seen when unmodified pig kidneys are transplanted into nonhuman primates. The recipient's elevated creatinine level returned to normal after the transplant.