First successful transplant of pig lungs into human body

The lungs are particularly difficult organs to transplant because of their fragile physiological structure, large blood volume, and frequent exposure to air, making them vulnerable to damage.

For the first time in history, a lung taken from a genetically modified pig has been successfully transplanted into a human body. The study was recently published by Chinese scientists in the scientific journal Nature.

Lungs are notoriously complex organs to transplant, but the operation is seen as a step toward clinical trials. The recipient was a 39-year-old Chinese man who was declared brain dead.

Previously, the lungs had undergone six genetic modifications to increase their ability to adapt to the human body.

After the transplant, the organ maintained vital function for nine days without signs of acute rejection or infection.

Author He Jianxing said that in the context of the increasing demand for organ transplants in the world , the use of animal organs for humans (xenotransplantation) is considered a potential solution to overcome the shortage of organ donations.

He stressed that this achievement marks an important step forward in the field of lung transplantation from animals to humans.

Beatriz Dominguez-Gil, director of the National Transplant Organization, said the research is a milestone in translational medicine.

She noted that lungs are particularly difficult organs to transplant because of their fragile physiological structure, large blood volume, and frequent exposure to air, making them vulnerable.

In China and the US, at least dozens of cases have so far been transplanted with organs from genetically modified pigs, including hearts, kidneys, livers and thymus glands.

Professor Muhammad Mohiuddin, a surgeon at the University of Maryland School of Medicine (USA), who led the first pig heart transplant into a living human body in 2022, highly appreciated this effort, considering it the first step towards lung transplants from animals to humans./.

(TTXVN/Vietnam+)

Source: https://www.vietnamplus.vn/lan-dau-cay-ghep-thanh-cong-phoi-lon-vao-co-the-nguoi-post1058248.vnp