First successful pig kidney transplant for brain dead people

On January 20, a team of doctors from the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) in the US announced that it had successfully transplanted a pig's kidney into the body of a brain-dead person for the first time.

According to the New York Times, although this is the second human transplant of a pig's kidney, it is the first successful human side transplant.

University of Alabama at Birmingham doctors perform a pig kidney transplant for a brain-dead recipient

Last September, doctors at New York University's Langone School of Medicine (USA) attached a pig's kidney to another brain-dead patient. Although able to function normally, this kidney is still outside the recipient's body.

According to UAB's surgical team, the 2 kidneys started working and producing urine after about 23 minutes and continued for 3 days, but also 1 kidney produced more urine than the other.

The patient's own kidney - Mr. James Parsons - an avid cyclist who was injured in a race in September 2021 - was removed and the recipient's body showed no signs of rejecting two new kidneys.

Lead surgeon Jayme Locke says they closely follow all the steps of a conventional human-to-human transplant surgery.

Ms. Locke hopes the experiment will set the stage for testing in normal patients later this year.

In the report, Ms. Locke and the other authors thank the family of the brain dead person - Mr. James Parsons - for agreeing to participate in the study.

James Parsons - an avid motocross racer - suffered a brain death injury during a race in September 2021.

The team announced it would name this type of study after Mr Parsons, 57. He was seriously injured during a motor race in September 2021.

The pig that donated the kidney in the surgery has 10 key genetic changes to make the organs more suitable for transplantation for humans.

On January 7, the University of Maryland Medical School (USA) also successfully performed the world's first genetically modified pig heart transplant surgery for humans.

Experts hope that progress in this area will likely solve the long-standing shortage of donated organs.

According to official US figures, there are nearly 107,000 Americans waiting for an organ transplant, of which 90,000 need a kidney. 17 people waiting for an organ transplant die every day.