More than 100,000 Americans are waiting for organ transplants, often enduring terrible symptoms, emotional distress and difficult treatment for years.
Pigs, whose organs are about the right size and can be bred easily and quickly, offer a promising alternative.
Xenotransplantation involves killing pigs to
save humans, which some find troubling.
Another issue is keeping study animals alive for
half a year or more with organs from a different species before human trials can begin.
Dr. Montgomery, wanted to prove the procedure wouldn't trigger an immune attack in a living person, so they tested it on the body of a woman who was declared brain-dead.
Unlike with a live person, the kidney was kept outside the body so it could be easily monitored. Urine output was strong and the body’s immune system seemed to accept the kidney during the 54-hour observation period.
Dr. Montgomery said the results were even better than he’d hoped.