Xenotransplantation

 Human organ donations such as kidney, liver, heart are saving the lives of the people with damaged organs. But there are not enough donors to meet the demand for organs.  The waiting lists are too long and many people are dying waiting for transplantation. How to over this hurdle? One of the way is to consider xeno-transplantation. Genetically modified pig is preferred for this organ transplantation. Kidneys from genetically modified pigs are transplanted in to the brain dead human beings and studied for 54 hours for acute rejection reaction, renal function improvement.  Dr . Richard Pierson, the scientific director for Transplantation science and a Professor of surgery at Harvard Medical School  gave an interview to Stephen Morrissey, Executive Managing Editor of NEJM.

The good side of it is, that we will be able to help needy patients. The negative side of it is that we are afraid of unknown viral injections jumping the species, like the AIDS virus. It was the reason for the initial refusal to consider the xeno-transplantations for some time. This can give rise to pandemics and we have to struggle to bring it down.

In this photo provided by the University of Maryland  School of Medicine, David Bennett Jr., right, stands next to his father’s hospital bed in Baltimore, Maryland on January 12, 2022, five days after doctors transplanted a pig heart into Bennett Sr., in a last-ditch effort to save his life. Bennett Sr., the first person to receive a heart transplant from a pig died on March 8, 2022, at the University of Maryland Medical Center, two months after the groundbreaking experiment. His death was announced on March 9, 2022. (University of Maryland School of Medicine via AP)

The Food and Drug Administration had allowed the dramatic Maryland experiment under “compassionate use” rules for emergency situations. Bennett’s doctors said he had heart failure and an irregular heartbeat, plus a history of not complying with medical instructions. He was deemed ineligible for a human heart transplant that requires strict use of immune-suppressing medicines, or the remaining alternative, an implanted heart pump.