Scientists Attached a Pig Kidney to a Human and It Worked

On October 20, 2021, there were multiple articles released about an outstanding medical success. For the first time ever, surgeons attached a pig kidney to a human and it worked successfully. The pig kidney was put onto the human at The New York University. These articles share just how amazing this experiment will be for the world, moving forward. CBS News stated that this medical advancement, “could pave the way to help the thousands of people in need of organ transplants every year.”

Transplantation of any animal organs into a human body is called xenotransplantation. This experiment was conducted on a woman who was brain-dead and on a ventilator. Her parents gave scientists and surgeons permission to go through with the experiment. The kidney was attached to the blood vessels in the recipient’s upper leg and was kept outside of the abdomen, covered by a protective shield. 

In 1984, there was a dying infant, Baby Fae, in need of a heart transplant in order to survive. Her surgeons had no other options to save her life, so they decided to transplant a baboon heart into her. She lived with this baboon heart for 21 days. Seeing how well this worked interested scientists and researchers as well as surgeons who began to experiment more with animal organs. This brought hope to their research. 

The idea of using a pig kidney for this transplant came from surgeons initially using primates such as apes, orangutans, monkeys, and baboons. When that didn’t work out as much as they had hoped, scientists began genetically modifying pigs. They had realized that pigs and humans had a lot more in common than they had first thought. For example, their organs in size and shape are extremely similar. Once they had a patient who had consented to the operation and a pig to use as a donor, the experimental procedure was ready to begin. 

Before attempting to use pig kidneys/livers, other pig organs were used for decades inside of humans successfully. Surgeons have been using pig heart valves. The blood thinner, heparin, comes from pig intestines. Pig skin grafts are very oftenly used on burns. Some Chinese surgeons have even used pig corneas to restore vision. 

For a long time, people have been thinking about using animal organs for transplants. Once scientists discovered that pig organs are closer to human organs than primates’ are, they started producing pigs for the sole purpose of being organ donors. There were quite a few attempts that were made before finally having a successful xenotransplantation. It took quite a while because scientists were trying to figure out how to genetically modify the donor in such a way that the human would not reject the organs. 

When the surgeons went in to transplant the pig kidney, it took approximately two hours. This is the normal time that it would take to transplant a human kidney. This means that there were no complications when they were performing the surgery. After the kidney was attached to the person, the scientists monitored it for 54 hours to see how it would perform. 

The rejection of pig organs in a human body is caused by a certain sugar in pig cells that is foreign to the human body. When the body is unfamiliar with something, it rejects that thing in order to protect itself. The reasoning for the pig being genetically modified is so the human body won’t reject the organ coming from the pig. 

Overall, the transplant went extremely well. Dr. Robert Montgomery, who led the surgical team, told Dr. Jon Lapook that the procedure, “was even better than I expected.” This transplant was different from ones in the past because scientists genetically modified the pig in a specific way that caused the pig kidney to not be rejected by the recipient. 

According to CBS News, researchers said that the pig kidney showed signs that were “normal and equivalent to what is seen from a human kidney transplant.” There was no sign of rejection whatsoever. This means that the kidney performed wonderfully. It didn’t have the immediate rejection that Dr. Montgomery was worried about. 

Roughly 106,728 people are in need of organ transplants. Over 90,000 of those people need kidney/liver transplants. From this past January to September, there were a total of 31,361 human transplants world-wide. This shows that there aren’t enough people who are donating organs to keep most of the people in need alive. Animal organs are needed in order to keep many more people alive. 

Montgomery said this research could mean “that no one will need to die waiting for an organ anymore.” This also affects future transplants because it can save many lives without needing as many human donors. Every day, around 12 people die while waiting for an organ transplant. Therefore, this could help thousands of people in need of organ transplants each year. 

The FDA said that more paperwork needs to be submitted before there are pig organs being transplanted into living humans. Scientists, researchers, and surgeons believe that in the next year or two they will conduct this experiment on a living person. 

Some people feel that it’s not right to use pigs and other animals as organ donors. They feel guilty because they feel as if they are taking advantage of pigs’ existence. They wonder if we should be doing this to pigs just because we can. However, having pigs as organ donors will help ease the shortage of human organ donors greatly. It may grow to be more acceptable to these people when they see how much it’ll benefit their lives as well as others.