重大突破--猪肾成功移植入人体(1)

I’m standing on the rooftop of NYU Langone Health, a hospital in midtown Manhattan, scanning the sky over the East River for a helicopter. 我站在纽约大学朗格尼医学中心(曼哈顿市中心的一家医院)的屋顶上，扫视东河上方的天空，寻找一架直升机。It’s New York City, so there are tons of helicopters, but I’m looking for a specific one.这里是纽约市，所以这里有无数的直升机，但我想找一架特别的直升机。Finally I spot it: a white helicopter with red-and-white blades, carrying some very precious cargo. 最后我找到了一架白色直升机，这架直升机有着红白相间的螺旋桨，机身内载有一些非常珍贵的货物。The blades whir to a halt, and some people step out. 螺旋桨的呼呼声停了下来，一些人走下了飞机。One man is carrying a big white box. Inside the box? A pig kidney.一个人拿着一个白色的大箱子。在箱子里吗? 猪肾。This is Science, Quickly. I’m Tanya Lewis.这里是《科学快播》。我是Tanya Lewis。I run back into the hospital to watch the small team arrive through the elevator doors wheeling the box with the kidney on ice. 我跑回医院，看着这支小型团队推着冰冻的肾脏箱通过电梯门出现。I follow them right up to the operating floor.我跟着他们一直到手术室。And that’s as far as I can go. Only surgeons and nurses and a handful of observers are allowed in the operating room.我只能走到这儿了。只有外科医生、护士和少数观察员可以进入手术室。There’s a risk of the pig organ carrying a virus that could infect people. 猪的器官有可能携带病毒感染人类。And they are scrubbed in with personal protective equipment on. 他们穿着个人防护装备，彻底清洗双手和前臂。The surgical staff also had to undergo special blood testing before and after the surgery to ensure they stay infection free.手术人员还必须在术前与术后接受特殊的血液检测，以避免感染。So I make my way back to a small room with a live video feed of the operation. 我回到了一间小房间，观看手术的实时视频。I’m here to watch an organ transplant. But not just any transplant: a pig kidney is being transplanted into a human. This is known as a xenotransplant.我是来观看器官移植的。但这并不是一般的移植：一个猪肾正在被移植到人类身上。这被称为异种器官移植。The human recipient is not alive—he suffered brain death as a result of a complication from a cancerous brain tumor. 器官受赠人已经死亡——他因恶性脑瘤引发并发症，进而造成脑死亡。The body of the decedent, as researchers refer to him, is being maintained on life support. 死者的身体目前靠生命维持系统维持着。死者是研究人员对受赠人的称呼。He wasn’t able to donate his organs, but his family has generously agreed to donate his body for the experiment.他无法捐献自己的器官，但他的家人慷慨地同意捐献他的遗体用于这次实验。I watch the live video feed of the surgery.我在观看手术的实时视频。The surgeon starts prepping the organ to be transplanted.这位外科医生开始为移植器官做准备。Once it’s ready, he lowers it into the decedent’s abdominal cavity.一旦准备好，他就会把器官放进死者的腹腔。He has removed the decedent’s own kidneys already, so the only kidney function will come from the pig organ.他已经切除了死者的肾脏，因此，猪的器官将成为死者唯一的肾脏功能。The surgeon carefully sutures the pig kidney’s blood vessels to the deceased person’s renal artery and vein.外科医生小心地将猪肾的血管与死者的肾动脉、肾静脉缝合。He also connects the ureter—the tube that connects the kidney to the bladder—from the pig organ to the human ureter.他还将猪的输尿管(连接肾脏与膀胱的管道)与人的输尿管连接起来。The kidney flushes pink as blood begins to flow through it and starts producing urine.当血液开始流过肾脏并开始产生尿液时，肾脏就会变成粉红色。