Cross-species organ transplantation (xenotransplant) is one of the solutions to the issue of organ shortage. Pigs became the animal of choice because they have many similarities with human organs and can be raised quickly before the organs are "harvested" for human consumption. Recently researchers from NYU Langone Health announced the success of a pig's kidney surviving for 32 days after being transplanted into the human body.
This broke the previous record of 74 hours. Researchers are now continuing the study to see if these kidneys will be able to last up to two months. This opens up the possibility that xenotransplant procedures using pig organs will become a reality in the near future.
A pig kidney was transplanted into Maurice "Mo" Miller's body on July 14. Miller was declared brain dead by doctors at the hospital who was kept alive with the help of a life support machine. His body was donated for scientific purposes by family members.
Dr. Robert Montgomery who is the director of NYU Langone Health said that the pig's kidney is functioning normally so far without it being rejected by the recipient's body. In fact, according to Dr. Montgomery, it works better than human kidneys so far.
In order to allow this pig's kidney to be transplanted into a human, it has undergone a genetic change process first to increase compatibility. Previously, NYU Langone Health also successfully transplanted a pig's heart into a human body with brain death but it lasted only 72 hours. The world record for a living human to receive a pig organ is held by David Bennett who lived for two months before dying of an animal virus.