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The world's first recipient of a baboon liver underwent a procedure on Jul 10, 1992 to determine how well his body and the new organ are adapting, and no sign of rejection of the organ was found

The doctors had been hesitant to do a liver biopsy on the man, who is the first in a series of four patients scheduled to receive baboon livers. But because of concern over a rejection reaction, which can be difficult to detect, they went ahead with the biopsy. They found no evidence of rejection in the small piece of tissue removed from the patient's liver

Transplant surgeon Thomas E. Starzl of the University of Pittsburgh, who led the team that gave a baboon liver to a 35-year-old man on Jun 28, 1992, is profiled. Despite having performed thousands of operations since the 1950's, he says he was terrified each time he picked up a scalpel and tormented by an intense dislike of surgery's brutal assault on the body

PITTSBURGH - Doctors have upgraded the condition of the first human to receive a transplanted baboon liver, and they say he continues to improve as well as any patient who has received a human liver. The liver transplant was necessary because hepatitis B had destroyed the man's liver. The disease probably would have damaged a transplanted human liver as well, but doctors think the baboon organ might not be as susceptible to the hepatitis B virus. Earlier in the week, doctors said the man had developed a mild case of hemolytic anemia, a condition that occurs in about 5 percent of human liver transplant recipients, [John Fung] said. Standard blood tests show that the condition has improved in the baboon liver recipient, Fung said

The man's new liver is functioning well, trying to restore the biochemical imbalances created by his own liver, which was destroyed by the hepatitis B virus. One measure, a test for bilirubin, a substance made in the liver, has shown steady improvement since the operation, declining to 10 from a high of 17, Dr. [John J. Fung] said. Normal is less than 2. Early Reaction Improved Earlier in the week, doctors said the man had developed a mild case of hemolytic anemia, a condition that occurs in about 5 percent of human liver recipients, Dr. Fung said. Standard blood tests show that the condition has improved in the baboon liver recipient, Dr. Fung said

Since 1905, surgeons have tried at least 33 times to transplant an animal organ into a human, but no attempts have succeeded longer than nine months, largely because the drugs the patients received were too weak to overcome the rejection phenomenon

''Clinically, he looks very well and his condition is stable,'' said Dr. John Fung, the surgeon who headed the team that gave the man a baboon liver in an 11-hour operation June 26. Earlier in the week, doctors said the man had developed a mild case of hemolytic anemia, a condition that occurs in about 5 percent of human liver transplant recipients, Fung said. Standard blood tests show that the condition has improved in the baboon liver recipient, Fung said. The team is continuing to monitor for such a possibility and Fung has expressed confidence that if there is one it could be controlled by adjusting two of the four drugs he is receiving to prevent rejection of the baboon liver

Doctors of the world's first recipient of a baboon liver said on Jul 1, 1992 that the patient has developed what could be a mild rejection reaction, but they expressed confidence that they could control it

Referring to the 35-year-old recipient of the baboon liver in Pittsburgh, whose indentity is being withheld, [Keith Reemtsma] said he 'was tremendously pleased to see how well he was doing, much better than I would have anticipated.' BLACK & WHITE PHOTO; Dr. Keith Reemtsma, a pioneer in animal-to-human transplants, fields reporters' questions on a patient who received a baboon liver via transplant.; Credit: The Associated Press

PITTSBURGH - The world's first recipient of a transplanted baboon liver was reported improving and watching television in his room at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center on Tuesday as animal-rights activists protested outside the hospital. For that reason, the University of Pittsburgh decided last fall to exclude hepatitis B patients as liver transplant candidates. Doctors hope that the baboon liver will not be susceptible to the virus