First time in the medical history, kidney of a pig has been transplanted into a human without immediate motion of rejection by the recipient's immune system.
According to sources the recipient was a brain-dead patient with signs of kidney dysfunction whose family gave consent to experiment before she was taken off of life support.
The new kidney was tied to her blood vessels and placed exterior to her body, so that researchers can observe .
Experimental result of the transplanted kidney's function "looked pretty normal," said transplant surgeon Dr. Robert Montgomery, who led the study.
According to him, pig kidney successfully made the amount of expected urine from a transplanted human kidney, and there was no evidence of the vigorous, early rejection seen when unmodified pig kidneys are transplanted into non-human primates.
Montgomery told that recipient’s abnormal creatinine level which is an indicator of poor kidney function turned to normal post transplant.
"The potential here is incredible," Montgomery says. "
The medical progress, which led to transformative moment is expected pave the route to aid the thousands of people who are in need of organ transplants every year. If these experiments kept showing positive signs then soon kidney xenotransplant into human beings will be possible.
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/pig-kidney-transplant-human-patient/
