Human Gets New Lease on Life with Genetically-Engineered Pig Heart

Key Points:

• The recipient of a genetically-altered pig heart lived for two months post-transplant.
• Medicos hope subsequent transplants of similar kind to last longer.
• This ground-breaking surgery illustrates the potential of xenotransplantation in addressing organ shortage worldwide.

Hot Take

Get ready to rewrite your bucket list, Miss Piggy, because turns out pigs are not just about bacon anymore! They are sprouting a new lineage of life-savers, with their hearts potentially solving the organ shortage crisis! Picture yourself living, less like a guinea pig, more like a pig-heart recipient, for more than just a couple months. Quite ‘heartening’, isn’t it? This is not some hogwash, folks! It’s real scientific progress meeting high stakes surgical calisthenics. So, next time you see a pig, show it some respect, because it might just be saving someone’s life on the operating table – instead of becoming dinner on someone else’s table!

Original Article: https://www.wired.com/story/how-to-make-a-pig-heart-transplant-last-in-a-person/