Post by M. Hawbaker on Aug 18, 2023 23:49:36 GMT
In a medical breakthrough, NYU Langone Health surgeons successfully transplanted a pig kidney into a brain-dead man, who has now survived on the organ for more than a month.
“This represents the longest period that a gene-edited pig kidney has functioned in a human, and the latest step toward the advent of an alternate, sustainable supply of organs for transplant,” according to an NYU Langone Health news release.
The surgical staff also gave a special thanks to Mary Miller Duffy, the sister of the brain-dead man, Maurice Miller, who allowed her brother’s body to be used for the innovative procedure.
Research on the first-of-its-kind operation, which took place July 14, will continue into mid-September, as doctors monitor how long the animal’s kidney will function properly inside a human body beyond 32 days.
The pig kidney had only “one genetic modification and [is] without experimental medications or devices,” according to Montgomery.
In xenotransplants, the medical term for a cross-species organ transplant, Montgomery and his team had to create a unique solution for the patient’s body to avoid “hyperacute rejection” of the animal’s organ once it connected to the 57-year-old man’s circulatory system.
This was done by “knocking out” the alpha-gal gene that doctors altered to prevent a rejection in the man.
This potentially game-changing surgery, part of a larger study on the subject, could someday prove an efficient treatment for the more than 103,000 people in need of organ transplants across the US.
nypost.com/2023/08/16/pig-kidney-transplant-on-man-could-become-a-game-changer/
“This represents the longest period that a gene-edited pig kidney has functioned in a human, and the latest step toward the advent of an alternate, sustainable supply of organs for transplant,” according to an NYU Langone Health news release.
The surgical staff also gave a special thanks to Mary Miller Duffy, the sister of the brain-dead man, Maurice Miller, who allowed her brother’s body to be used for the innovative procedure.
Research on the first-of-its-kind operation, which took place July 14, will continue into mid-September, as doctors monitor how long the animal’s kidney will function properly inside a human body beyond 32 days.
The pig kidney had only “one genetic modification and [is] without experimental medications or devices,” according to Montgomery.
In xenotransplants, the medical term for a cross-species organ transplant, Montgomery and his team had to create a unique solution for the patient’s body to avoid “hyperacute rejection” of the animal’s organ once it connected to the 57-year-old man’s circulatory system.
This was done by “knocking out” the alpha-gal gene that doctors altered to prevent a rejection in the man.
This potentially game-changing surgery, part of a larger study on the subject, could someday prove an efficient treatment for the more than 103,000 people in need of organ transplants across the US.
nypost.com/2023/08/16/pig-kidney-transplant-on-man-could-become-a-game-changer/
