Doctors at NYU Langone have announced promising results of a study that could greatly help people looking for organ transplants - a list currently more than 100,000 names long in the United States.

 

The kidney of a pig is continuing to function in a human body for more than 32 days now. Doctors performed the procedure on July 14, led by dr. Robert Montgomery. It was the fifth xenotransplant performed at NYU Langone.

 

Observation continues as this particular study will continue through September, but doctors say that kidney, transplanted into the body of a man who was declared dead by neurologic criteria and maintained with a beating heart on ventilator support, is taking on all the tasks a human kidney performs in humans.

 

Doctors say if positive results continue, they'll get closer to the clinical trial phase. Montgomery says this "has the potential to save thousands of lives."