🏥 A Man in China Lived 38 Days with a Pig's Liver

Chinese surgeons for the first time successfully transplanted part of a pig's liver into a 71-year-old man with cirrhosis and a large tumor.

Due to his cancer, the patient wasn't eligible for a human transplant, and all other treatments had failed. While doctors have previously transplanted kidneys and even hearts from animals into people, the liver was long considered too complex for such a procedure.

Scientists modified the donor pig's DNA by turning off three genes that typically trigger immune rejection in humans and adding seven human genes to improve compatibility. Surgeons then removed one lobe of the patient's liver and implanted a 500-gram fragment of the pig's liver in its place.

After the surgery, the pig liver started working—producing bile and releasing essential proteins into the bloodstream. For 38 days, the transplanted organ kept the patient alive, giving his own liver time to recover.

💗 Complications

In the fourth week, signs of rejection appeared, and doctors had to remove the pig liver. Still, the patient lived another four months thanks to the part of his own liver that had regenerated during that time.

Although the first patient only gained a few extra months of life, the operation proved that such transplants could one day save people who lack access to human organ donors.

How do you feel about transplanting animal organs into humans?

🔥 — The future of medicine
🤔 — Needs more research
🎃 — Against such experiments

@hiaimediaen