Will animal-to-human organ transplants overcome their complicated history?

A 57-year-old Maryland man has now survived just over three weeks with the transplanted heart of a genetically engineered pig. His doctor has hailed the operation as a “breakthrough surgery” that could help solve the organ shortage crisis. But from a scientific standpoint, it’s too early in the game to know how much it moves the ball.

The use of animal organs for humans is an idea with a long, dramatic and often disappointing history (SN: 11/4/95). There’s an old saying about xenotransplantation, as the field is known, says Joe Leventhal, a surgeon who heads the kidney transplant program at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine in Chicago. “It’s just around the corner. The problem is, it’s a very, very, very long corner.” Read full article here.