Pig Organ Transplant: What are the Pros and Cons of Genetically Modified Pig Organs?

Pig organ transplant has made significant developments in the field of medicine over the past decade. We have seen successful medical operations like a genetically modified pig kidney being transplanted into a human patient earlier in March 2024. In January 2023, medical researchers were able to transform pig livers into human-like organs. Despite these developments, pig organ transplants have received a mixture of reactions.

One of the main advantages of genetically modified pig organs is that it could address a shortage of human organs for transplants. Genetic engineering of these animal organs is necessary to match the biological environment of the human body. However, criticisms surrounding pig organ transplant suggest that the process itself poses ethical issues and the human body could reject these animal organs in the long run.

Pig Organ Transplant

Several years ago, a breakthrough pig organ transplant surgery has shaken the medical community after a dying man in the United States became the world's first recipient of a genetically-modified pig heart. However, two months later after the groundbreaking experiment, the 57-year-old man, named David Bennett, passed away at the University of Maryland Medical Center.

The recipient's death was announced in March 2022 by the Maryland hospital that performed the pig heart transplant. After one and a half years later in September 2023, the world's second person, Lawrence Faucette, 58, underwent a successful genetically-modified pig heart transplant. Yet, nearly six weeks after the highly experimental surgery, doctors from the University of Maryland's School of Medicine announced Faucette's death.

While the two patients from the mentioned pig heart transplants eventually died, there are other pig organ transplant operations that somehow managed to be successful. On March 16, an hours-long surgery in Massachusetts was able to carry out a pig kidney transplant into a human patient, according to an announcement by the Massachusetts General Hospital. The recipient was a 62-year-old man with an end-stage kidney disease.

Also Read: Pig Livers Transformed to be Human-Like, Possible Solution for Organ Transplant Shortage

Human Organ Transplant Shortage

In the US, pig livers were transformed to resemble human organs. It was conducted by the company Miromatrix and its team of researchers amid the human organ transplant shortage in the country. Also covered by Nature World News in January 2023, the pig liver transformation project also involves the genetic modification of the pig organs. These animal organs can potentially serve as a replacement for patients suffering from failing livers.

The advent of pig organ transplants emerged due to the advancement in genetic engineering and medical technology. However, it also comes at a time when there is a human organ shortage crisis, as previously pointed out by researchers several decades ago. According to a 2008 research article, the demand for organ transplants has significantly increased worldwide due to a spike in cases of vital organ failure.

The article about the organ shortage crisis was made available on the website of the National Institutes of Health.