- Home
- Medical news & Guidelines
- Anesthesiology
- Cardiology and CTVS
- Critical Care
- Dentistry
- Dermatology
- Diabetes and Endocrinology
- ENT
- Gastroenterology
- Medicine
- Nephrology
- Neurology
- Obstretics-Gynaecology
- Oncology
- Ophthalmology
- Orthopaedics
- Pediatrics-Neonatology
- Psychiatry
- Pulmonology
- Radiology
- Surgery
- Urology
- Laboratory Medicine
- Diet
- Nursing
- Paramedical
- Physiotherapy
- Health news
- Fact Check
- Bone Health Fact Check
- Brain Health Fact Check
- Cancer Related Fact Check
- Child Care Fact Check
- Dental and oral health fact check
- Diabetes and metabolic health fact check
- Diet and Nutrition Fact Check
- Eye and ENT Care Fact Check
- Fitness fact check
- Gut health fact check
- Heart health fact check
- Kidney health fact check
- Medical education fact check
- Men's health fact check
- Respiratory fact check
- Skin and hair care fact check
- Vaccine and Immunization fact check
- Women's health fact check
- AYUSH
- State News
- Andaman and Nicobar Islands
- Andhra Pradesh
- Arunachal Pradesh
- Assam
- Bihar
- Chandigarh
- Chattisgarh
- Dadra and Nagar Haveli
- Daman and Diu
- Delhi
- Goa
- Gujarat
- Haryana
- Himachal Pradesh
- Jammu & Kashmir
- Jharkhand
- Karnataka
- Kerala
- Ladakh
- Lakshadweep
- Madhya Pradesh
- Maharashtra
- Manipur
- Meghalaya
- Mizoram
- Nagaland
- Odisha
- Puducherry
- Punjab
- Rajasthan
- Sikkim
- Tamil Nadu
- Telangana
- Tripura
- Uttar Pradesh
- Uttrakhand
- West Bengal
- Medical Education
- Industry
First ever case: Human patient transplanted pig kidney by US doctors
New York, Oct 20 Doctors at NYU Langone Health in New York temporarily transplanted a pig's kidney onto a human in first ever case. It is a 'significant step' toward animal-to-human organ transplants, the media reported.
The family of the recipient, who had wanted to be an organ donor, gave permission for the surgery to go ahead.Incidentally the US FDA has also approved the use of the genetically modified pig organs for this type of research use.
Animal-to-human transplant, known as xenotransplantations, dates back to the 17th century, when attempts were made to use animal blood for transfusion.
The kidney came from a pig that had been genetically modified so that its tissues no longer contained a molecule known to trigger immediate rejection.Experts claim that it is the most advanced experiment in the field so far.
The recipient of the transplant was a brain-dead patient, whose kidneys were dysfunctional, the Independent reported. The team of doctors kept the woman's body going on a ventilator after her family agreed to the experiment. To avoid immediate rejection from the human immune system due to the presence of a sugar molecule in pig cells called Glycan, the doctors altered the pig's genes.
The surgeons connected the donor pig kidney to the blood vessels of the brain-dead recipient to see if it would function normally once plumbed in, or be rejected, in a two hour long operation.
They discovered the kidney had not been rejected by the patient's autoimmune response. Moreover, the patient's abnormal creatinine level -- indicating poor kidney function -- returned to normal, the report said. The kidneys filtered waste and produced urine as was expected, Robert Montgomery, a transplant surgeon and lead scientist of the study was quoted as saying.
Such a surgery can give hope to patients with end-stage kidney failure and become a short term solution till a kidney becomes available, he said.
The pig used in the research had been provided by Revivicor, a subsidiary of United Therapeutics, a company that engineered a herd of 100 others at a facility in Iowa, the report said.
It is hoped that this transplant breakthrough could ultimately solve donor organ shortages globally.
Dr Kartikeya Kohli is an Internal Medicine Consultant at Sitaram Bhartia Hospital in Delhi with super speciality training in Nephrology. He has worked with various eminent hospitals like Indraprastha Apollo Hospital, Sir Gangaram Hospital. He holds an MBBS from Kasturba Medical College Manipal, DNB Internal Medicine, Post Graduate Diploma in Clinical Research and Business Development, Fellow DNB Nephrology, MRCP and ECFMG Certification. He has been closely associated with India Medical Association South Delhi Branch and Delhi Medical Association and has been organising continuing medical education programs on their behalf from time to time. Further he has been contributing medical articles for their newsletters as well. He is also associated with electronic media and TV for conduction and presentation of health programs. He has been associated with Medical Dialogues for last 3 years and contributing articles on regular basis.
Dr Kamal Kant Kohli-MBBS, DTCD- a chest specialist with more than 30 years of practice and a flair for writing clinical articles, Dr Kamal Kant Kohli joined Medical Dialogues as a Chief Editor of Medical News. Besides writing articles, as an editor, he proofreads and verifies all the medical content published on Medical Dialogues including those coming from journals, studies,medical conferences,guidelines etc. Email: drkohli@medicaldialogues.in. Contact no. 011-43720751