A recent medical advancement was achieved as surgeons successfully transplanted two genetically modified pig kidneys into a brain dead person in Alabama, officially declared deceased in September. The pioneering transplant was done with his family's approval and served as the stepping stone to the age of gene-edited animal organ utilization for human needs. Before the new study, previous xenotransplantation of a pig's heart was successfully organized for a separate patient in Maryland.
Pig Kidney Transplant for Human Patient Possible
BIRMINGHAM, UNITED KINGDOM - JUNE 09: Consultant Surgeon Andrew Ready and his team conduct a live donor kidney transplant at The Queen Elizabeth Hospital Birmingham on June 9, 2006, in Birmingham, England. Kidney failure patient Carol Playfair was given the chance of life when her sister Tracey Playfair offered one of her own perfect kidneys to help save her life of Carol. The operation at The QE Hospital, part of The University Hospital's Trust was one of 1500 live donor transplants carried out in the United Kingdon every year. Despite the introduction of Donor Cards, there are still too few kidneys available to help all those who require a transplant, thereby producing a waiting list and the only chance of survival is by the live donor.
The procedure is considered a successful development after a decade-long study on how functioning animal organs could help people prolong their life span.
Alabama citizen Jim Parsons was among the first patients that received the innovative surgical treatment. Parsons was brain-dead due to a traumatic head injury following a dirt bike racing incident.
The University of Alabama led the study on completing the pig transplant operation. Four days after the incident, Parsons' family permitted to include him in an attempt at a breakthrough surgical transplant of a genetically modified animal organ, also called xenotransplantation.
The kidney organs used for the operation was carefully selected, as it needed to maintain providing urinal functions blood filtering, and must not be rejected by the patient's body. The research showed how xenotransplant could address the ongoing problem of organ shortage in the medical industry.
The experts chose the species for the study after an extensive comparison between their anatomical and physiological structure and those of humans. Previous studies have also utilized pigs for xenotransplantation and other surgical developments due to the same reasons.
The surgical procedure administered to the Alabama citizen was exhibited in September last year, just months before a similar operation led by experts from NYU Langone Health.
Xenotransplantation Answer to Organ Shortage Crisis
Xenotransplantation was initially a theory in the medical field, but for the past decade, there have been numerous investigations in an attempt to prove its possibility. The University of Alabama - Birmingham Heersink School of Medicine expert and author of the study Jayme Locke said in a DailyMail report that xenotransplantation is a game-changing advancement in the history of medicine, giving the industry the best possible solution against the organ shortage crisis.
The expert added that today, they can connect the gap between critical knowledge over the feasibility of the operation gathered through clinical trials that were relayed to living human subjects with an end-stage kidney failure disease.
Locke added that the study provided evidence that can not be generated through animal models alone. Contributing aspects observed from the human experiments could push us closer to the future in which the demand for organs is provided with supply. The new xenotransplantation relayed to Parson was the first peer-reviewed study of the subject. The paper was published in the American Journal of Transplantation, titled "First clinical-grade porcine kidney xenotransplant using a human decedent model."
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