A major advance toward clinical cardiac xenotransplantation

Consistent achievement of life-supporting cardiac xenograft function in a preclinical model is the benchmark established by an International Society for Heart and Lung Transplantation expert advisory panel in 2000 as a precondition for clinical translation.1 This long-elusive goal appears to be close at hand based on a recent report by L ängin and colleagues,1 published late last year in Nature.2 The Munich-based team reported that 4 of 5 consecutive baboon recipients of orthotopically implanted genetically modified pig hearts survived beyond 90 days.
Source: The Journal of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery - Category: Cardiovascular & Thoracic Surgery Authors: Tags: Feature Expert Opinion Source Type: research