Surgeons successfully transplant pig’s kidneys into brain-dead man

Nathan Place
·1 min read
Surgeons at the University of Alabama at Birmingham work to transplant a pig’s kidneys into a human body (University of Alabama at Birmingham via AP)
Surgeons at the University of Alabama at Birmingham work to transplant a pig’s kidneys into a human body (University of Alabama at Birmingham via AP)

Surgeons in Alabama have successfully transplanted a pair of kidneys from a genetically modified pig into the body of a brain-dead man.

The surgical feat, accomplished at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, is the latest in a series of breakthrough operations using pig organs. Earlier this month, a pig’s heart was transplanted into a live man in Maryland, tentatively saving his life.

Researchers at UAB hope to replicate the kidney experiment on future patients in need of organs.

“The organ shortage is in fact an unmitigated crisis and we’ve never had a real solution to it,” Dr Jayme Locke, who led the study, told the Associated Press.

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