Dr. Moreau had to start somewhere.Just because we can doesn't mean we should.
I thought they used pig valves because they could be denatured (or whatever the appropriate term is) such that your body is less likely to identify them as foreign and you don't need to be on anti-rejection drugs.
I know I had read about them doing a similar thing with hearts, basically dissolved a majority of the tissue leaving a "scaffolding" of cells that new heart cells can be grown on, but that would be a much bigger story. So I assume this operation would require this person to use a LOT of immunosuppressant drugs and the organ will likely still fail in a couple of years.
No immunosuppressants are required. The pig has been genetically modified such that a protein which has been problematic previously had been removed.
He won’t live long. Pigs don’t really live all that long. This just gives him a few (ostensibly) good years and brings the doctors and researchers involved lots of fame.
Dr Christine Lau, chair of the Department of Surgery at the University of Maryland School of Medicine, was in the operating theatre during the surgery.
"He's at more of a risk because we require more immunosuppression, slightly different than we would normally do in a human-to-human transplant. How well the patient does from now is, you know, it's never been done before so we really don't know," she told the BBC.
I say why not? If I or a loved one were on a waiting list for a heart transplant and this was a viable option, I don’t think I’d have a problem with it.
I’ll have to look it up, but I think I remember heart valves from pigs already being used for replacements in humans (I could be wrong).
Wait... what?!..., and a horse schlong for anyone with ED. Animals are great!
What don't you understand? ED - he was a horse on that famous TV show in the 60s - MR EDWait... what?!
Damn... I was thinking something else. :kicksrocks:What don't you understand? ED - he was a horse on that famous TV show in the 60s - MR ED
Obviously you haven’t seen recent developments with the Centichicken.I'm still waiting for them to get the three legged chicken figured out so we can have an extra drumbstick. They've been talking about it for years.