The Briefing Room
General Category => Health/Education => Topic started by: TomSea on December 06, 2018, 08:39:40 am
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Pig hearts function in baboons, bringing us closer to use in humans
(CNN) - A new paper details how genetically modified pig hearts transplanted into baboons could support life and function for up to 195 days. The finding, published in the journal Nature on Wednesday, takes scientists a small step closer to the possibility of using donor animal organs for human patients in need of a heart transplant.
"Consistent life-supporting function of xenografted hearts for up to 195 days is a milestone on the way to clinical cardiac xenotransplantation," the researchers wrote.
"Despite 25 years of extensive research, the maximum survival of a baboon after heart replacement with a porcine xenograft was only 57 days and this was achieved, to our knowledge, only once."
Read more at: https://www.news4jax.com/health/pig-hearts-function-in-baboons-bringing-us-closer-to-use-in-humans (https://www.news4jax.com/health/pig-hearts-function-in-baboons-bringing-us-closer-to-use-in-humans)
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/2018/12/05/pig-hearts-could-soon-tested-humans-scientists-pass-important/ (https://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/2018/12/05/pig-hearts-could-soon-tested-humans-scientists-pass-important/)
The story might get lost and I'll bump it, this is real and big science news this morning. Pig hearts may well be developed to work in humans.