A pig kidney has been successfully transplanted into a living person for the first time
Surgeons in the United States have successfully transplanted a genetically modified pig kidney into a living man for the first time. This was reported on the website of the clinic where the operation took place.
Medics tried to perform transplantation of the animal organ to a man five times. For the first time a person was transplanted kidney genetically modified pig in September 2021, repeated the attempt in November. In both cases, the kidneys were transplanted to dead people, the experiment lasted 54 hours and was successful. In the summer of 2022 twice tried to perform a heart transplant of a pig to a person - both patients died a few weeks after the experiment. The greatest success was achieved in 2023, when the pig kidney was able to function in the body of a deceased man for two months: then before the operation in the organ "turned off" gene, because of which the human body could begin to reject it.
Massachusetts General Hospital is the first time that a gene-modified pig kidney has been successfully transplanted for the first time to a living person who had previously been diagnosed with terminal kidney disease. Since 2018, 62-year-old Richard Slayman had been living with a human donor kidney, which was transplanted after years of living with type 2 diabetes and high blood pressure. In 2023, however, it began to fail. Then doctors suggested an experimental method - a pig kidney transplant. The patient agreed in order "not only to help himself, but also to give hope to thousands of people who need a transplant to survive." The results of the surgery were reported on the clinic's official website.
According to the surgeon, the pig kidney was the same size as a human kidney. And when it was "installed" in the patient's body, it "instantly turned red" and began to produce urine. Doctors at Massachusetts General Hospital told the press that Slayman is feeling well after the surgery and will be discharged soon.
"This successful procedure marks a new era in medicine in which we have the opportunity to make the long organ supply no longer a barrier to transplantation. This way no patient will die waiting to receive an organ," said the CEO of eGenesis, which modified a pig to make its organs suitable for humans.
Patients around the world need far more donor organs than are available. In the US, for example, 17 people who have been waiting for a transplant die every day. At the same time, the most scarce organ is the kidney. According to the Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network, approximately 27,000 kidneys were transplanted to patients in 2023, but nearly 89,000 people were on the waiting list.