Scientists transplant pig lung into human for first time

Surgeons have transplanted a lung from a genetically modified pig into a brain-dead human recipient for the first time and found it functioned for nine days, researchers have revealed.

- Nicola Davis

The work is the latest development in a technique called xenotransplantation that is aimed at solving the organ shortage crisis. According to the World Health Organization only about 10% of the global need for such transplants is being met.

However, experts stressed there was a long way to go before pig lungs could be used in humans.

Dr Justin Chan, a lung transplant surgeon for the NYU Langone Transplant Institute who was not involved in the work, described the study as "exciting and promising", but said the report concerned only one patient and had been a "qualified success". He added: "These lungs are not able to independently sustain a patient."

Andrew Fisher, a professor of respiratory transplant medicine at Newcastle University, agreed. "This work is very welcome in furthering our understanding, but it marks an incremental step... There is much more work required and we are not on the dawn of an era of lung xenotransplantation using pig lungs," he said.