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Series that demystifies health issues, bringing clarity to conflicting advice.

Series that demystifies health issues, separating fact from fiction and bringing clarity to conflicting health advice.

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Inside Health: Pig organs for transplant patients

08/02/2022

Pig organs for transplant patients

BBC Radio 4 - Inside Health, Pig organs for transplant patients

We talk to the doctor behind the first successful pig heart to human operation.

James Gallagher talks to the surgeons behind two historic xenotransplant operations.  Are pig organs the solution to the shortage of hearts and kidneys for transplant patients?

Can “one helluva pig” be the solution to a worldwide shortage of organ donors. People die waiting for replacement hearts, lungs and kidneys. So I meet the teams that have started transplanting pig organs into people. We’ll explore the huge leaps of genetic engineering that are making "xenotransplantation” possible and ask if it’s even ethical to try. 

Presenter: James Gallagher
Producer: Andrew Luck-Baker

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