The patient was in kidney failure and her immune system would reject a human organ. Scientists hope genetically modified pig organs prove safe and will alleviate the organ shortage and save lives.
Doctors say they can boost the odds donated organs will be usable by restarting blood circulation with a pump after donors are declared dead. Critics say the procedure blurs the definition of death.
Surgeons transplanted a kidney and thymus gland from a gene-edited pig into a 54-year-old woman in an attempt to extend her life. It's the latest experimental use of animal organs in humans.
Scientists are optimistic that gene-edited animals could provide a new source of organs for transplantation. Pig organs modified to minimize rejection are now being tested in humans.
After six weeks on a ventilator, she was dying of COVID-19. But doctors took a gamble and gave Mayra Ramirez a double lung transplant. Now she shares what it's like to come back from the brink.