What is Xenotransplantation?

● Xenotransplantation involves the transplantation of nonhuman tissues or organs into human recipients.

● The dream of animal-to-human transplants goes back to the 17th century when attempts were made to use animal blood for transfusions. 

● By the 20th century, surgeons were attempting transplants of organs from baboons into humans. 

● In the early 1960s, a surgeon performed 13 chimpanzees-to-human kidney transplants. One of the recipients lived for 90 days. However, most of these transplants failed and were gradually given up.

● But recently, a genetically modified pig’s heart was successfully transplanted into a 57-year-old man dying of heart failure in a New York hospital. This is the first successful transplant of a pig’s heart into a human being.