Recently, a hospital in eastern China's Anhui province successfully transplanted a genetically modified pig liver into a human patient.
The First Affiliated Hospital of Anhui Medical University in the province's Hefei city announced the success of the operation on Friday, one week after it took place.
The patient, a 71-year-old man with liver cancer, is in good condition and is mobile without any signs of acute rejection, the hospital said in a news release.
This groundbreaking achievement was achieved jointly by a team from Anhui Medical University and Yunnan Agricultural University in Yunnan Province.
The hospital said the procedure, which has been approved by various ethical committees, marks a major leap in medical innovation and puts Chinese researchers at the forefront of xenotransplantation technology globally.
According to the hospital, the United States has made great strides in recent years in xenotransplantation, a form of organ transplantation using genetically modified pigs, with successful cases of heart and kidney transplants.
However, liver transplantation has been considered difficult because the liver has complex functions such as metabolism, immunity, hematopoiesis and coagulation, the hospital said.
