The first person to undergo a kidney transplant from a genetically modified pig was discharged from the hospital after successful surgery.
As reported by BBC, the 62-year-old man was discharged, following a groundbreaking surgery performed at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) two weeks ago.
The news was shared in a press release on Wednesday by MGH, which is Harvard Medical School's largest teaching hospital in the US city of Boston.
The hospital announced that Richard "Rick" Slayman from Weymouth, Massachusetts, who had been struggling with end-stage kidney disease and needed a transplant, received a genetically modified pig kidney during a four-hour surgery on March 16, 2024.
His doctors reported that the transplanted kidney is functioning effectively, and he no longer requires dialysis.
Mr. Slayman expressed in a statement that being discharged from the hospital and returning home was one of the most joyful moments he has experienced.
In 2018, he received a kidney from a deceased person through a transplant, but it started to fail last year. Doctors then suggested the option of getting a kidney transplant from a pig.
The pig’s kidney was altered by a pharmaceutical company called eGenesis in Cambridge.
They removed genes from the pig that could cause harm and added some human genes to make it work better with human bodies.
The team who performed the transplant celebrated it as a groundbreaking achievement that could address the global shortage of organs, particularly benefiting ethnic minority groups who are disproportionately affected.
Dr. Winfred Williams, Mr. Slayman's physician at MGH, mentioned that, an abundant supply of organs resulting from this technological advance may go far to finally achieve health equity and offer the best solution to kidney failure - a well-functioning kidney - to all patients in need.
Although this marks the first instance of a pig kidney being transplanted into a human, it's not the initial use of a pig organ in a transplant operation.
Previously, two patients underwent pig heart transplants, but unfortunately, those attempts were not successful, as both recipients passed away within a few weeks following the procedures.
