The nephrologist Rafael Matesanz is the founder of the National Transplant Organization of Spain and one of the greatest international figures in the field of transplantation. Marc Güell is a chemist at Pompeu Fabra University and co-founder of eGenesis, an American company dedicated to trying to humanize pig organs for transplantation. In the video that accompanies this news, both speak about the unknowns with the medical milestone reached with the first pig heart transplant to a human. After learning that a team of surgeons from the University of Maryland has successfully carried out the pioneering eight-hour operation on a 57-year-old patient with heart disease, the two specialists comment on the unknowns that arise now. Could there be rejection of the body in the medium term ?; What possibilities and limits are drawn for science after this advance? The successful operation in turn opens a reflection on the paradigm shift: we are moving from an altruistic donation model to another model in which there will also be pig organs that are sold as a product.
The intervention opens new hope for all patients suffering from the dramatic shortage of human organs available for transplantation. Although it is too early to know if the procedure will prolong the life of the patient, it is undoubtedly a huge advance in the long quest to one day be able to transplant organs of animal origin and save human lives.
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