An American research team transplanted a genetically engineered pig kidney into a patient with kidney disease and announced that the patient is recovering well. Pig kidney transplants have previously been performed on brain-dead patients, but this is the world's first transplant aimed at helping patients recover.
This was announced on the 21st by a research team at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, USA.
On the 16th of this month, a research team transplanted a pig kidney that had been genetically engineered to prevent rejection into a 62-year-old male patient with kidney disease.
The man is said to be recovering well and is expected to be discharged from the hospital soon.
Dr. Tatsuro Kawai, one of the research team members who was in charge of the transplant, said, ``Everyone in the operating room applauded when they saw the kidney transplanted into the patient begin to function.''
In the United States, an attempt was made to transplant a pig kidney into a brain-dead patient in 2021, but according to the research team, this is the first time in the world that a pig kidney has been transplanted with the aim of recovering a patient. .
The research team believes that this transplant will be a breakthrough in finding ways to make transplants available to more patients.
In the United States, research is underway to see if genetically engineered pig organs can be transplanted into humans, and a year ago, a patient who was not expected to recover with other treatments received a pig heart transplant. He died a month later.