Man survives longest ever pig kidney transplant

Becca (0:00)

From BBC Learning English, this is Learning English from the News, our podcast about the news headlines.

Phil (0:06)

In this programme, a man lived with a pig's kidney for a record of 271 days.

Becca (0:17)

Hello, I'm Becca.

Phil (0:18)

And I'm Phil.

Becca (0:19)

In this programme, we'll look at one big news story and the vocabulary in the headlines that will help you understand it.

Phil (0:25)

You can find all the vocabulary and headlines in this episode, as well as a worksheet on our website, bbclearningenglish.com.

Becca (0:34)

So, let's hear more about this story.

Phil (0:43)

Tim Andrews from New Hampshire in the United States was aged 66 when he found out that he'd developed kidney disease linked to type 2 diabetes.

Becca (0:53)

At that time, he was at the end stage of the disease, meaning that he was in the final, most severe phase. Not much can be done at this stage, and many people in this situation are waiting for a replacement human kidney.

There is a shortage of human donor kidneys.

Phil (1:10)

Andrews received a pig kidney, and it worked inside him for 271 days, the longest on record, US doctors say. However, the pig organ eventually failed and was removed, so Andrews needed some dialysis, a medical treatment where a machine functions like a kidney.

Becca (1:28)

He then received a human kidney transplant 82 days later.

Phil (1:33)

Let's have our first headline, pig kidneys successfully transplanted into humans, and that's from the Financial Times, a British newspaper.

Becca (1:41)

That headline again, from the Financial Times, pig kidneys successfully transplanted into humans.

Phil (1:48)

So this headline talks about kidney transplants from pigs, and we're going to look at the word transplant. What can you tell us about this word, Becca?

Becca (1:57)

Well, this word could be both a noun and a verb. You can have a transplant, or you can transplant something, and it means to move or be moved from one place to another.

Phil (2:10)

Yeah, so notice there that the stress is different in the verb and the noun. So, the verb is transplant, and the noun is transplant.

Becca (2:20)

Yes, it's often used in a medical context, and it means to take an organ or tissue from one body and put it into another. And in this story, a kidney was taken from a pig and transplanted into Andrew's, and a later human organ transplanted into him again.

Phil (2:37)

And you might also hear transplant when talking about moving plants. So a plant can be grown indoors and later transplanted outside when it's the right season.

Becca (2:48)

Less commonly, we use transplant metaphorically. You can move an idea, habit, culture or structure forward or into something new.

For example, an author could try to transplant certain themes from horror into a science fiction setting, or a board of directors could try to transplant a business model into their retail stores.

Phil (3:11)

We've had transplant, which means move or be moved from one place to another.

Becca (3:18)

For example, the donor heart was transplanted in a 7-hour operation.

Phil (3:28)

This is Learning English from the News, our podcast about news headlines. Today, we're talking about a man's record-breaking pig organ transplant.

Becca (3:38)

Tim Andrews is a case of xenotransplantation, the transplantation of organs between species. Doctors are saying that xenotransplantation could be a way to address the shortage of human donor organs.

Phil (3:52)

Pig kidneys are similar to those of humans in size, general structure and the way they function.

However, human bodies will usually reject organs from pigs. But in this case, the pig was genetically modified to make it suitable for human donation.

Becca (4:08)

People usually only live for a limited time on dialysis.

That's the machine that acts as a kidney. It's hoped that using genetically modified pig kidneys will reduce the amount of time people need to spend on dialysis before receiving a human kidney.

Phil (4:25)

In a CNN documentary, Andrews said that the transplant helped him become strong enough to be independent again. He's now able to cook, clean his home and take his dog cupcake on long walks.

Becca (4:36)

Let's have another headline.

This headline is from Turkey Today, a Turkish news organisation. First of its kind pig kidney keeps US man off dialysis for 271 days.

Phil (4:50)

And that headline again from Turkey Today, a Turkish news organisation. First of its kind pig kidney keeps US man off dialysis for 271 days.

Becca (5:02)

This headline highlights how this transplant is the first of its kind. What does that mean, Phil, first of its kind?

Phil (5:09)

Well, it describes something completely original, unique and never done or created before. So because this is the first example of someone surviving long enough on a pig kidney to then receive a human kidney, it's the first of its kind.