Scientists Achieve Breakthrough on Path to Pig-to-Human Heart Transplants

D-brief
By Megan Schmidt
Dec 6, 2018 10:17 PMOct 15, 2019 6:15 PM
Pig With Doctor
Scientists say they have successfully kept a baboon alive with a pig’s heart for six months. (Credit: Dusan Petkovik/Shutterstock)

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Although 54 percent of adults in the United States have registered as organ donors, just one in three people die in a way that allows for organ donation. That leaves more than 100,000 people in the United States waiting for a transplant. Many will die waiting.

Because demand for organs outpaces supply and probably always will, researchers have looked to xenotransplantation — placing animal organs into human bodies — as an alternative. However, getting to the point where xenotransplantation is safe enough for trials in humans has been a challenge because so many complications can occur. Now, a breakthrough by a group of researchers brings us one step closer to a day when organ shortages are a thing of the past.

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