Chinese surgeons have successfully transplanted a gene-edited pig liver into a living human, a world first, that marks a major leap in organ transplantation.

The 71-year-old patient, who underwent the surgery on May 17, 2024, at the First Affiliated Hospital of Anhui Medical University, survived for 171 days after the procedure, signaling a new frontier for xenotransplantation, the transplantation of organs across species.

According to findings published in the Journal of Hepatology , the pig liver was transplanted as an “auxiliary” organ, meaning it supported the patient’s own liver rather than replacing it entirely.

The patient suffered from an unresectable tumour in the right lobe of his liver, leaving the remaining portion unable to sustain normal function. For the first 31 days a

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