- Man City do feel the tension of title race, says Guardiola
- Watches belonging to F1 great Schumacher fetch millions at auction
- Postecoglou 'misread' Spurs' fans desperation to deny Arsenal title
- Nasdaq finishes at record as US stocks shrug off latest inflation data
- No.1 new dad Scheffler enjoying life but strives for more at PGA
- Bellingham, Vinicius shine as champions Madrid smash Alaves
- Man City can 'make history' with fourth consecutive Premier League: Rodri
- Singapore to swear in Lawrence Wong as new prime minister
- Blinken vows US will back Ukraine till security 'guaranteed'
- Ohtani interpreter appears in court over $17 mn fraud
- Haaland double puts Man City on brink of Premier League history
- In major change, Google to use AI-generated answers in search results
- Rahm says he's not slumping despite winless LIV start
- Paris Holocaust memorial hit with red hand graffiti
- Floods unite Brazilians in solidarity despite political rift
- Spieth tries again for career Grand Slam with PGA victory
- Massive manhunt after French prison officers killed, inmate escapes in ambush
- Biden sharply hikes US tariffs on Chinese EVs and chips
- Quarter of Gazans displaced again as fighting rages north to south
- Ex-fixer Cohen grilled by defense at Trump trial
- Alice Munro: short story virtuoso with a touch of 'magic'
- Top-ranked Scheffler paired with major winners at PGA Championship
- Defending champion Medvedev out as Swiatek cruises in Rome Open
- McIlroy files for divorce from wife Erica
- Stubbs gives Delhi IPL play-off hope with win in last league match
- Top French court rejects bid to return Mona Lisa to 'rightful owners'
- Streep honoured at opening of drama-filled Cannes Film Festival
- Grammy-winning sax player David Sanborn dies
- UK law to ban live animal exports clears parliament
- In big change, Google to use AI-generated answers in search results
- Medvedev's Rome Open title defence ended by USA's Paul
- US will back Ukraine until its security is 'guaranteed', Blinken says
- World No.2 McIlroy files for divorce from wife Erica: report
- King Charles III sees red in new portrait
- Amazonian chief at UN to combat traditional knowledge piracy
- US sharply hikes tariffs on Chinese EVs and chips
- Thousands rally in Georgia after parliament passes 'foreign influence' law
- Tiger 'still talking' about US 2025 Ryder Cup captain's job
- Alice Munro, Nobel-winning Canadian author, dead at 92
- Alice Munro, Canada's 'Chekhov'
- Alice Munro, Nobel-winning Canadian author, dead at 92: media
- UK says proposed pandemic treaty 'not acceptable'
- France's Paret-Peintre claims Giro 10th stage, Pogacar holds lead
- Ex-fixer Cohen to face defense grilling at Trump trial
- Not for Premier League to choose Everton owner, says top-flight chief
- Tiger: 'progress made' but 'long way to go' in PGA-Saudi talks
- Two French prison officers killed, inmate escapes, in jail van ambush
- French stars call for crackdown on sexual violence
- Stock markets mixed as investors await more direction on US inflation
- France's Paret-Peintre claims Giro d'Italia 10th stage
US surgeons transplant pig kidney to live patient for second time
Surgeons in the United States have transplanted a modified pig kidney into a living person for the second time, a hospital said Wednesday, celebrating an advance in animal-to-human organ transplants.
The procedure at NYU Langone Health in New York was carried out in April on Lisa Pisano, 54, who had suffered heart failure and end-stage kidney disease, with doctors giving her just weeks to live barring some kind of medical intervention.
Surgeons implanted a mechanical heart pump in Pisano days before the transplant, which NYU Langone Health said was a world-first for this combined procedure.
In addition to the gene-edited kidney, doctors also -- for what the hospital said was the first time on a living patient -- transplanted the pig's thymus gland, which helps "educate" the immune system and reduce the chance of organ rejection.
Lead surgeon Dr Robert Montgomery told reporters Wednesday the operation was a "milestone in our journey to make life-saving organs available to anyone who needs them."
Montgomery, who also carried out the world's first gene-edited pig-to-human kidney transplant on a brain-dead person in 2021, said the latest operation will "bring closer the possibility that no one will have to die, waiting for someone else to die, so they can be saved."
The first-ever transplant of a pig kidney into a living patient was carried out in March at Massachusetts General Hospital on a 62-year-old man.
Xenotransplants -- a transplant of an organ between different species -- have been hailed as a potential solution for in-need patients amid a chronic shortage of organ donors.
However, the human body can reject animal organs, meaning they must be genetically modified to ensure they will be compatible, reducing risk for the patient.
Genetically modified pig hearts were transplanted in 2023 into two patients at the University of Maryland, but both survived less than two months.
Pisano, a grandmother from New Jersey, said she had "exhausted all other resources" before choosing to go ahead with the procedure.
Doctors said it could have taken years for her to find a match for a human kidney transplant, with her body rejecting available donors, according to a hospital statement.
"I said the worst case scenario, if it doesn't work, it might work for the next person. You know, at least somebody's going to benefit from it," Pisano said.
She has shown no signs of organ rejection almost two weeks later, Montgomery said, adding that her kidney function was "perfect."
O.Bulka--BTB