Scientists have just transplanted a pig lung into a human recipient for the first time. The donor was brain dead and the lung only lasted for 9 days but it is a huge step in the world of xenotransplantation, the science of transplanting animal organs into humans.
The first xenotransplantation was performed in 1905, when a monkey kidney was transplanted into a human. However, the recipient died within a few days. In 1983, the first successful xenotransplantation of a baboon heart into a human infant was performed, but the patient died after 20 days.
In recent years, there have been significant advances in xenotransplantation due to the development of genetically modified pigs that are more compatible with humans. In 2021, the first successful transplant of a genetically modified pig kidney into a human was performed. The recipient lived for over a year before the kidney was removed due to complications. In 2022, the first successful transplant of a genetically modified pig heart into a human was performed.
This comes at a time when organ donor rates have fallen for 3 big reasons. First there was a big fall in donor deaths during covid because less people were moving around freely which resulted in fewer accidental deaths. Second, the number of opioid deaths have decreased so fewer young, otherwise healthy people are dying. Third, an absolutely crazy article in the NY Times suggested we need to change the definition of death to allow for faster organ harvesting led to many people revoking their organ donor status.
So the need for organs has remained constant but the supply has been constricted which has led to scientists developing new sources for organs like these genetically modified pigs. Hopefully, this will soon mean that we will be able to meet every organ need with a lab grown organ specifically grown for that donation and be able to do away with the years-long donor list we have now.
