A breakthrough in medicine after a pig kidney was implanted into a patient. Expert: Such operations will become commonplace
There has been a breakthrough in global transplantation medicine. At the New York University Medical Center, a 57-year-old man who was declared brain dead was implanted with the kidney of a genetically modified pig. The bioethics committee had to consent to this operation.
– I think that in 10 years such operations will become commonplace. Patients will live thanks to organs transplanted from animals – says in an interview with “Wprost” Dr. Hab. n. med. prof. PUM Marek Myślak from the Independent Public Provincial Hospital in Szczecin. He was the only specialist from Poland who took part in this medical experiment as an observer.
Aleksandra Zalewska-Stankiewicz, “Directly”: He cooled down Mr after what he saw in the United States?
Ph.D. n. med. prof. PUM Marek Myślak: I’m still very excited, especially since such a large-scale experiment has never been carried out before in the world and could open the way to clinical trials. On a daily basis, I manage the nephrology and kidney transplantation department at the Independent Public Provincial Hospital in Szczecin. In my hospital, we transplant kidneys, livers and lungs – several dozen organs a year. I have extensive experience in transplantology, but I have never seen anything like this before.
Who is the patient who received a pig kidney implantation?
This is 57-year-old Mauric Miller, who was struggling with cancer – brain cancer. Even when he was alive, the man declared his willingness to donate his organs for transplantation, but due to cancer it would be impossible. After declaring the patient brain dead, doctors asked his family for permission to implant a pig kidney into his body. Mr. Miller’s relatives agreed, emphasizing that he always wanted to contribute to the development of medicine.
