Surgeons Successfully Transplant Pig Hearts Into Dead Humans
Surgeons from NYU Langone Health announced Tuesday that they had successfully transplanted two genetically modified pig hearts into brain-dead humans—moving researchers one step closer to performing xenotransplants regularly in living patients.
The two surgeries took place in June and early July.A team led by NYU Transplant Institute heart surgeon Nader Moazami undertook multi-hour surgeries to transplant the pig hearts into the chest cavities of two recently deceased patients kept alive through ventilators. The doctors monitored organ function for three days while the recipients were kept on ventilators and dialysis machines, finding that the hearts performed well without being rejected.
“It brings me great excitement to tell you that the function of the heart was excellent,” Moazami said during a press conference on Tuesday.
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