MAN WITH LIVER OF BABOON PROGRESSING

                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: WEDNESDAY, January 13, 1993                   TAG: 9301130230
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A2   EDITION: METRO  
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: PITTSBURGH                                LENGTH: Short
MAN WITH LIVER OF BABOON PROGRESSING
A 62-year-old man who underwent the world's second baboon-to-human liver transplant remained groggy from anesthesia a day after the operation. His doctor said he was satisfied with his progress.
"I would say that his course so far isn't any different from human liver transplants," Dr. John Fung said Tuesday.
The level of lactic acid in the transplanted liver was dropping, a sign the organ was clearing byproducts, and bile production continued to improve, said Fung, one of three doctors who performed the surgery.
The man, whose name wasn't being released, remained in critical condition. He had been dying when he received the organ of a 16-year-old male baboon during a 13 1/2-hour operation that ended early Monday.
Although groggy Tuesday, he responded to commands to open his eyes.
An animal-rights group, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, has picketed the medical center to show its opposition to killing animals for their organs.
Without a transplant, doctors said, the patient would have died within 30 days. Three other candidates for the groundbreaking surgery have died since the death Sept. 6 of the first baboon-to-human transplant patient, a 35-year-old man.
Like the first patient, the man wasn't a candidate for a human liver because he has hepatitis B, which would have destroyed another human liver. Researchers believe baboons are immune to the disease.

by Bhavesh Jinadra by CNB