COVID-19 may continue to dominate headlines, but this year's biomedical advances weren't all about "the Rona." 2022 saw fruitful and seemingly fantastical research that could one day mean good news for patients. Next-level organ transplants. Organ transplants have started mirroring science fiction. In January, an ailing 57-year-old man received a heart from a genetically engineered pig and survived for two months with the transplanted organ (SN: 3/12/22, p. 26). Other surgeries plugged pig hearts into the bodies of brain-dead patients, a step that prepares researchers for future clinical trials (SN Online: 7/12/22). And a high-tech system hooked up to pigs' bodies an hour after death helped keep organs functioning. The technology, which might one day preserve human organs slated for surgery, pumps a mix of real and artificial blood through the animals (SN: 9/10/22, p. 12).
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