Revolutionary Pig Kidney Transplants: A Family's Choice Sparks Medical Breakthrough

The body of Maurice "Mo" Miller, who tragically passed away, has become part of an experiment at NYU Langone Health to potentially ease the organ transplant shortage by using organs from genetically modified pigs. Surgeons successfully replaced Miller's kidneys with a pig kidney, which has been functioning like a healthy kidney for over a month, the longest a pig kidney has ever worked in a person. The experiment aims to study how pig kidneys can reach longer timepoints in donated bodies, providing vital lessons for future xenotransplantation. The success of the experiment could help address the national waiting list of over 100,000 people in need of organ transplants, particularly kidneys.