Xenotransplantation – the transplantation, implantation, or infusion of live cells, tissues or organs from a nonhuman animal source into humans – has been suggested as the most imminent strategy to alleviate the shortage of human grafts. The pursuit of this technology is nonetheless restricted by an unquantifiable risk that the use of animal grafts will unleash new zoonoses that may affect the ...

Since the development of the Edmonton Islet Transplantation Protocol, islet transplantation has given new hope to patients with type 1 diabetes. Like solid organ transplantation, one of the biggest challenges islet transplantation faces is the shortage of available donor tissue. Finding an alternative source of islet tissue has become an increasingly important field of study. The possibility of...

Background Xenotransplantation involves the transplantation of nonhuman tissue or organs to humans. Worldwide shortage of organs for clinical applications has shifted the focus towards non-human sources. Pig represents a rich source of organ donors but the presence of porcine endogenous retroviruses (PERVs) represents a particular risk and considered as a major obstacle during xenotransplantati...

The number of organs transplanted worldwide is increasing annually. As a result, there is a shortage of available donor organs. This scarcity has led to the progressive broadening of donor organ criteria. The expanded criteria include infections such as bacterial meningitis. A 55-year old male visited our emergency room with cardiac arrest and recovered after cardiopulmonary resuscitation. The ...

The considerable interest in xenotransplantation at present is linked to the persisting imbalance between the need for organ substitutes and their availability, which has no chance of being righted in view of the growing scarcity of so-called " brain deaths " which represent less than 1% of hospital deaths. Because of progress achieved by modern medicine and biology, techniques for transplantin...

Worldwide, there is a shortage of organs available for transplant into patients with end-stage renal failure. This has led to donor selection of the most-marginal donors. These strategies, so far, have failed to meet the requirements. Further adaptations are required to maximize the donor pool. One such pool is nonheart-beating pediatric donors less than 2 years of age. This report highlights a...

Kidney transplantation is one of the most common solid organ transplants that improves quality of life and promotes longevity of the patients. However, the access to transplantation is limited by the shortage of deceased donor organs and the presence of HLA antibodies prior transplantation. Many efforts have been made to promote living kidney donation due to the better survival rates, and desen...

Acute liver failure (ALF) remains a devastating, life-threatening clinical problem that is defined as sudden hepatocellular necrosis in the absence of pre-existing liver disease. The onset and clinical course of ALF is unpredictable, and despite improved critical care management, mortality remains unacceptably high. Currently, to date, liver transplantation is the only curative treatment. Howev...