Background: The global demand for organ transplantation outpaces supply, necessitating innovative solutions. Xenotransplantation, using animal organs, cells and tissues, is a promising solution to address the organ shortage. The World Health Organization and the International Xenotransplantation Association collaboratively established an online inventory in 2006 (www.humanxenotransplant.org) to catalog human xenotransplantation practices. The inventory, managed successively by the Geneva University Hospital and the Sichuan Provincial People’s Hospital, aligns with the WHO directives for transparency and best practices in the field of transplantation.
Methods: Relevant data has been regularly collected from numerous sources (scientific publications, congresses, press articles, declarations of International Xenotransplantation Association members) by a dedicated team in Switzerland and China ensuring rigorous verification. The initial information is used to create a first entry in the database which is then completed when more details become available.
Results: As of February 2025, the inventory contained 58 entries of distinct xenotransplantation procedures undertaken on humans. From these data, various trends can be observed over the last two decades regarding the type of transplantation, their regulation status, and the source animal. Notably, recent high-profile cases of solid organ transplantation involving kidneys and hearts were made feasible through years of progressive xenotransplantation research and ongoing changes to regulations.
Conclusions: Recent clinical applications of solid organ xenotransplantation suggests that more clinical procedures may soon follow for patients with end-stage kidney or heart disease, or diabetes. Future perspectives advocate for increased funding and expansion of the current registry or its potential integration into a larger and more broadly internationally recognized registry, such as the Global Observatory on Donation and Transplantation (GODT).