Yahoo Answers is shutting down on May 4th, 2021 (Eastern Time) and beginning April 20th, 2021 (Eastern Time) the Yahoo Answers website will be in read-only mode. There will be no changes to other Yahoo properties or services, or your Yahoo account. You can find more information about the Yahoo Answers shutdown and how to download your data on this help page.

What is the cost of a heart xenotransplantation from a pig?

If you can't tell me you will all have twenty years of BAD LUCK!

jks

Update:

can you tell me the exact cost in the us???

3 Answers

Relevance
  • 1 decade ago
    Favorite Answer

    That would depend on what country you were in. Medical costs vary depending on what the government contributes.

    If you used the US as an example, it would probably cost many times more for a transplant from a pig than from a human donor. They are growing designer pigs now for consideration for organ transplant, and the costs are huge just to breed the genetically altered animals, test them, and assure that they carry no pathogens and are never exposed to any. A donor heart carries no cost, unless you consider the testing, organ removal, and transportation costs.

    Of course, in the US, any transplant of a pig heart would be considered research (rather than therapy), and many medical ethicists consider it unethical to charge a research subject for the research they are doing on him.

    Of course, the ultimate price is death. Although a few pig hearts have been transplanted into humans, no human has ever survived it.

  • 1 decade ago

    There are only a few published successful xenotransplant procedures.

    Xenografts have been a controversial procedure since they were first attempted. Many, including animal rights groups, strongly oppose killing animals in order to harvest their organs for human use. Medical concerns exist about possible disease transfer between animals and humans, such as the porcine endogenous retrovirus found in pig tissues. Religious beliefs, such as the Jewish and Muslim prohibition against eating pork, have been sometimes thought to be a problem, however according to a Council of Europe documentation both religions agree that this rule is overridden by the preservation of human life.

    Hence I am sorry to inform you that your question can not be answered.

  • 1 decade ago

    A foolish question with no realistic answer possible. Has school broken up for the summer in the US as well, leaving pubescent boys with nothing to do?

    Source(s): GP for more years than I care to remember
Still have questions? Get your answers by asking now.