A pig kidney transplanted into a human body over a month ago is still working.
A pig kidney is still working a month after being transplanted into the human body
The procedure was carried out on a brain-dead patient on July 14 and experts are now tracking the performance of the animal's kidney for a second month.
It is the longest period of time that a genetically-modified pig kidney has functioned in a human being.
The patient, Maurice Miller, died suddenly at the age of 57 from a previously undiagnosed brain cancer - preventing routine organ donation - and the chance that pig kidneys could ease the shortage of transplantable organs persuaded his family to donate his body for research.
The deceased man's own kidneys were replaced by a single kidney from the modified pig and immediately started producing urine.
Dr. Robert Montgomery, director of NYU Langone's transplant institute, said: "Is this organ really going to work like a human organ? So far it's looking like it is."