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According to the pioneering surgeon who performed the first transplant in the UK 40 years ago, modified pork hearts could be used for human transplants in just three years.
On the occasion of the anniversary of this operation, Sir Terence English said that his protégé of the successful transplant of 1979 will try to replace a human kidney with a pig kidney later this year.
The expert thinks that this could lay the foundation for a more complex transplantation of animal organs into the human body – a process called "Xenotransplantation".
The 87-year-old told the Sunday Telegraph: "If the result of xenotransplantation is satisfactory in humans with pork kidneys, it is likely that the hearts would be used with good effects in humans within a few years.
"If it works with a kidney, it will work with a heart … that will turn the problem around," he explained.
The hearts of pigs have an anatomy similar to that of humans, so they are used as models to develop new treatments. Heart failure is considered a global pandemic, affecting at least 26 million people worldwide. The hope that the use of pork hearts can revolutionize the way doctors fight the disease.
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