A kidney transplanted from a pig has functioned inside a patient for 271 days, marking the longest recorded period for such a transplant, according to US doctors.
Patient Tim Andrews said the transplant gave him “hope” and saved him from spending months in hospital undergoing dialysis, a treatment that filters waste from the blood when the kidneys stop working properly, reports BBC.
Doctors at Mass General Brigham hospital said the successful trial shows that pig organs could potentially be used as a temporary “bridge” until a human organ transplant becomes available.
However, the transplanted pig kidney eventually failed and was removed. Andrews underwent a short period of dialysis before receiving a kidney from a human donor.
Scientists and medical researchers are exploring xenotransplantation — the use of organs from other species for human transplants — as a possible solution to the global shortage of donor organs.
In the United States, around 100,000 people are waiting for a kidney transplant, while only about 25,000 kidney transplants are carried out each year. In the UK, more than 7,000 people are currently on the kidney transplant waiting list.
Andrews was told he could have to wait up to seven years to receive a human kidney transplant, while people on dialysis live for an average of around five years.
“I had a little bit of a shortage of time… it becomes very depressing,” he said.
