Pig organs for transplant patients
Inside Health
BBC
4.4 • 575 Ratings
🗓️ 8 February 2022
⏱️ 29 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Can “one helluva pig” be the solution to a worldwide shortage of organ donors. People die waiting for replacement hearts, lungs and kidneys. So I meet the teams that have started transplanting pig organs into people. We’ll explore the huge leaps of genetic engineering that are making "xenotransplantation” possible and ask if it’s even ethical to try.
Presenter: James Gallagher Producer: Andrew Luck-Baker
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hello, you're about to listen to a BBC podcast, and I'm Ed Gamble, host of another BBC podcast, |
| 0:05.4 | The Traitors Uncloaked. But my show is available only on BBC Sounds, just like Ellis and John's |
| 0:10.6 | Saturday bonus episodes, the Pop Top Ten podcast with Scott Mills and Ryland, and comedy specials |
| 0:16.2 | from the likes of Harriet Kemsley, Susie Ruffel and Rommas Shranger Nathan. However, and maybe I'm biased, it's really all about the traitors uncloked. |
| 0:24.3 | So for a whole bunch of exclusive scoops and podcasts, listen only on BBC Sounds. |
| 0:29.4 | Hello and welcome to the Inside Health podcast with me, James Gallagher. |
| 0:35.2 | When we released the clamps, the pig kidney turned beautiful in pink and within about 20 minutes |
| 0:41.0 | began making urine. |
| 0:42.9 | The sense of relief, the sense of joy, and just, I think hope just filled the room. |
| 0:48.8 | I think we might have high-fived as well. |
| 0:52.9 | It's a game changer. |
| 0:54.3 | No question about that. |
| 0:56.0 | Because we see patient like Mr. Bennett, you know, |
| 0:59.4 | die waiting for an organ. |
| 1:01.5 | They are not enough organs available, |
| 1:03.8 | not only heart, but other organs like kidney, lungs, and liver. |
| 1:07.8 | So, I mean, I'm very hopeful that it has become a norm in a few years to have these |
| 1:13.2 | kind of pig organs available for every single person who needs it. That was a sneak peek at two |
| 1:19.8 | remarkable tales that I have for you today. Both are transplant operations and both are using |
| 1:25.7 | organs that have been taken from pigs. First, a pair of pig kidneys |
| 1:30.3 | were transplanted into a brain-dead body. Then a heart was put into a man with heart failure. |
| 1:36.2 | We'll find out how he's getting on shortly. Now, the need's obvious. Thousands of people need a |
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