LAUSR

Recent advances raise hope for a promising solution to the transplant organ shortage Over 100,000 people in the US are currently waiting for organ transplants. Because the human organ donor pool cannot keep pace with this demand, many patients die without receiving the life-saving transplant they need. Pigs are similar to humans in organ size and physiology, so the transplantation of pig organs to humans offers a potential solution to this problem and raises the prospect of scheduled, elective transplantation of quality-controlled organs, even for patients who would not currently meet the criteria for allocation of a scarce human organ. Although other technologies, such as tissue engineering, may eventually offer alternative solutions to this shortage, there is currently no substitute for transplantation of a fully formed, functioning organ. Several developments in the past year, most notably the first pig-to-human transplants, bring this promising solution closer to fruition, but challenges remain.