The world's first combined pig to monkey multi-organ and multi-tissue transplant was recently successfully completed in Xi'an – capital of Northwest China's Shaanxi province – at the Xijing Hospital of the Air Force Medical University of PLA.

The xenotransplantation operation was led by Dou Kefeng and Tao Kaishan, professor and director of the hepatobiliary surgery department, respectively, at Xijing Hospital. 

Dou is also an academician at the Chinese Academy of Sciences.

The two men cooperated with 20 departments of urology, cardiovascular surgery, anesthesia and perioperative medicine, orthopedics, burns and dermatology, ophthalmology, and experimental surgery departments.

The team performed the transplantation for four recipient monkeys from the liver, heart and kidney of a gene-edited pig, as well as the cornea, skin and bone.

Currently, the four monkeys’ transplanted organs and tissue are in good condition.

In recent years, with the advancement of surgical techniques, allogeneic organ transplantation has become a routine treatment for many end-stage diseases. The long-term survival rate and quality of life of patients after transplantation have been continuously improved, but the shortage of donors has severely restricted the development of organ transplants.

The transplant performed at Xijing Hospital is said to have further expanded and confirmed the possible application scope of xenotransplantation in the future. What's more, it has provided scientific data and technical reserves for solving the shortage of donors and emergency treatment of patients with organ failure.

Tao Kaishan dissects and isolates the liver and kidney of the pig before obtaining the organs. [Photo provided to en.xa.gov.cn]

Dou Kefeng splits the liver of the pig and takes a suitable volume of donor liver for the xenotransplantation. [Photo provided to en.xa.gov.cn]

Liu Jincheng and Yi Wei, director and deputy director of the cardiovascular surgery department at Xijing Hospital, respectively, transplant the pig’s heart into a recipient monkey. [Photo provided to en.xa.govn.cn]