A New Hampshire man fought for the chance at a pig kidney transplant, spending months getting into good enough shape to be part of a small pilot study of a highly experimental treatment. His effort paid off: Tim Andrews, 66, is only the second person known to be living with a pig kidney. Andrews is free from dialysis, Massachusetts General Hospital announced, and recovering so well from the Jan. 25 transplant that he left the hospital a week later. Andrews' surgery comes at a turning point in the quest to tell if animal-to-human transplants could help ease the shortage of donated human organs. The first four pig organ transplants — two hearts and two kidneys — were short-lived. But the fifth xenotransplant recipient, an Alabama woman not nearly as sick as prior patients, boosted the field — thriving for now 2½ months after a pig kidney transplant.
Cognitively normal human brain samples collected at autopsy in early 2024 contained more tiny shards of plastic than samples collected eight years prior, according to a new study. Overall, cadaver brain samples contained seven to 30 times more tiny shards of plastic than their kidneys and liver, said co-lead study author Matthew Campen, Regents' Professor and professor of pharmaceutical sciences at the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said on Thursday it had identified three cybersecurity risks associated with certain patient monitors from Contec and Epsimed and urged healthcare facilities to mitigate those risks.
Two healthcare institutions, Frederick Health and New York Blood Center Enterprises (NYBCe), are grappling with disruptions from separate ransomware attacks they faced this past week.