Mann überlebt sechs Monate nach Schweinelebertransplantation

***The Telegraph reports:***

A Chinese man lived for almost six months after becoming the first living human to receive a transplant of a pig liver.

The 71-year-old received the pig’s organ after a large part of his own liver was removed following the discovery of a tumour.

He was the first person in the world to receive a xenotransplanted liver – from one species to another – and underwent the procedure in May 2024.

The anonymous patient at the Anhui Medical University in Hefei lived with the liver inside him for 38 days but had it removed after he began to experience complications.

After the organ was removed, he recovered. However, the patient died 171 days after his first operation, suffering from repeated episodes of upper gastrointestinal haemorrhaging, the scientists reported.

Pig organs are seen as a possible way to combat growing waiting lists for transplants, as their organs are of similar complexity and size to those of humans.

The NHS says the wait for a liver in the UK is about six months. A patient is reliant on a donor being found of suitable blood type and size, as well as other factors.

Scientists are now breeding gene-edited pigs with certain DNA tweaks in order to reduce the risk of rejection.

The transplants of pig hearts and kidneys have already been performed but livers are more complicated organs. While the heart simply acts as a pump and the kidneys filter waste, the liver performs functions including filtering blood, creating nutrients, detoxifying harmful substances, regulating blood sugar, storing energy, signalling immune cells, and breaking down fats and [cholesterol](https://www.telegraph.co.uk/health-fitness/diet/nutrition/worst-foods-for-your-cholesterol/).

**Read more:** [**https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/10/09/man-survived-six-months-after-pig-liver-transplant/**](https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/10/09/man-survived-six-months-after-pig-liver-transplant/)