Researchers in the United States will soon try if the livers of a genetically modified pig could treat people with sudden liver failuretemporarily filtering your blood so that your own organ can rest and perhaps heal.
The first clinical essay of this type has been approved by the Food and Medicines Administration, according to the producer of pigs Egenesis, who announced the step along with his organx partner.
It is estimated that 35 thousand people in the United States are hospitalized every year when their liver suddenly fails. There are few treatment options and mortality rates of up to 50%. Many do not qualify for a liver transplant or cannot obtain a compatible donor in time.
The new study is a variation in the search for animal to humans transplants. The researchers will not transplant the pork liver, but will connect it externally to the study participants.
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The liver is the only organ that can regenerate, but the question is whether to have the liver of the pig Filtering the patient’s blood for several days could give him that opportunity.
In experiments with four deceased bodies, that attempt to “bridge” He showed that the pork liver could support some functions of a human liver for two or three days, said Mike Curtis, CEO of Engenesis, based in Massachusetts, which genetically modifies pigs so that their organs are more similar to humans.
The essay will register up to 20 patients in intensive care units that do not qualify for a transplant Liver, he said. A device manufactured by the British Organox, currently used to preserve donated human livers, will pump the blood of the participants through the pork liver.
It is the last step in attempts to use genetically modified pork organs to save human lives. Pork kidneys and another pig producer, United Therapeutics, are being used in experimental transplants.
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