The use of organs from pig to human represents a major breakthrough in medical treatment and has been in the experimental stage for over a decade now. Recently for the first time this was successfully performed in a human body.

In a risk-free procedure, a team of surgeons and doctors at NYU Langone Transplant Institute announced that they had performed the experimental surgery last month. They, after the consent from the family of a brain-dead deceased patient transplanted a kidney from a genetically modified pig, and it worked normally. The operation is the first successful attempt at kidney xeno-transplants in humans, and it raises the possibility that someday it would potentially become a renewable source for organs.

This experiment that lasted 54 hours has raised the hopes of many patients worldwide who are on long waiting lists to receive an organ. For now, research remains at experimental stage and has not yet been peer-reviewed nor published in a medical journal. “The kidney started to function normally, making urine and the waste product creatinine almost immediately. A pig organ that functioned outside the body is a strong indication that it will work in the body,” said Dr. Robert Montgomery, the director of the N.Y.U. Langone Transplant Institute.