Jakarta, CNN Indonesia —
Scientist United States of America at NYU Medical Center, New York City, USA, made history for the first time to successfully perform a kidney transplant pig to humans.
This success is said to be a solution to the shortage of kidney transplant stocks. Previously, only kidneys from healthy humans could be taken for transplantation into patients with kidney failure.
However, with this success, pig kidney could be a prospective alternative as a substitute for human kidney.
Citing Reuters, the kidneys also came from genetically adapted pigs. Thus, the pig’s kidney tissue no longer contains the molecules that normally trigger rejection by the human body.
The trial was carried out on patients who had experienced brain death with signs of kidney dysfunction before removing their life support equipment. The experiment also received the consent of the patient’s family.
For three days, the new kidney is attached to the patient’s blood vessels while maintaining it outside the body. That way, these conditions can provide access for researchers.
Transplant surgeon Robert Montgomery said the results of the kidney function transplant appeared very normal.
He explained that the newly attached kidney began to produce urine as expected. There were also no signs of immediate rejection when the unmodified kidney was transplanted into a nonhuman primate.
Montgomery continued, creatinine levels from patients who received new transplants even returned to normal. The creatinine level is an indication of worsening kidney function.
In the US, there are now a total of 107,000 patients still waiting for an organ transplant. As many as 90 thousand of them are patients with kidney failure.
As for patients with kidney failure, they have to be on the queue for three to five years to get a kidney transplant.
(bac)
– .
