The patient's creatinine level was abnormal before, and the index gradually recovered after operation. Pigs have always been the focus of research to solve the problem of organ shortage. For decades, pig heart valves have also been successfully used in humans; The blood thinner heparin is extracted from pig intestine; Pig skin transplantation for burns; Surgeons in China use pig corneas to restore patients' vision.
The patient undergoing this operation is a brain-dead patient, and his family members agreed to participate in this pig kidney transplant trial only after his body showed signs of renal failure. The doctor did not put the pig kidney directly into the patient's body, but connected it to the patient's thigh blood vessel, which was convenient for researchers to observe the patient's condition.
This is a useful experiment! If it can be completely successful, it will benefit the majority of patients with severe kidney disease. User comments: Be careful, the origin of human heart or thought is not only what is stored in the brain, but also any part of the body.
Scientists have turned their attention to pig xenotransplantation. Compared with other primates, pigs are easy to raise and their organs mature quickly. It only takes about 6 months for the organ size of pigs to reach a level very similar to that of humans.
Moreover, the reproductive rate of pigs is very high, which can better meet the needs of organ transplantation. This time, Langong Health Center chose a genetically engineered pig, whose tissues and organs no longer contain substances known to cause immediate rejection.
In order to facilitate observation, the researchers did not put the pig kidney into the brain-dead patients with renal insufficiency, but implanted it outside the patient and connected it with the thigh blood vessels. After that, pig kidney began to filter waste almost immediately and produced urine and creatinine, and there was no immune rejection.
For decades, heart valves from pigs, heparin from pig intestines, pig skin grafts and pig corneas have been successfully applied to human treatment. When the whole organ of pig is transplanted into human, the first problem is immune rejection, which is mainly caused by α-Gal antigen produced by genes carried by pig.
The doctors are very excited about the success of the operation. They are planning to use pig liver, pig lung and pig heart for experimental transplantation in the future. It seems ridiculous when I first heard that the pig was transplanted into the human body, but in fact, this time it was not an ordinary pig kidney, but a transgenic pig kidney, so it was mainly to prevent rejection. Transplanting pig organs is not a new idea, and some of them have been successful.
Organ donation is the premise of organ transplantation. Organ transplantation is another gift of life. With it, organs that have lost their functions due to fatal diseases can finally be replaced and people's lives can be extended. This is a medical miracle.
However, Huang Jiefu, chairman of China Organ Transplantation Development Foundation, pointed out that there is a great demand for organ transplantation in China. Every year, about 300,000 people wait to adapt to their organs, but only about 20,000 people can complete the transplantation, and most of them die in the long process of waiting for organs. Organ transplantation is facing a serious dilemma of "demand exceeds supply".
This experiment is an important step for human beings to seek to save lives by using animal organ xenotransplantation for decades, paving the way for pig kidney or heart transplantation on living people in the next few years and bringing hope to thousands of organ transplants.