A team of surgeons has successfully transplanted a genetically engineered pig kidney into a living human for the first time, a US hospital announced Thursday.
On Saturday, a 62-year-old man with end-stage kidney illness underwent a four-hour procedure. This was said by Massachusetts General Hospital, or MGH.
“The procedure marks a major milestone in the quest to provide more readily available organs to patients,” the hospital stated in a statement.
Organ shortages are a long-standing issue around the world, with more than 1,400 patients on the waiting list for a kidney transplant at Massachusetts General Hospital alone.
“Our hope is that this transplant approach will offer a lifeline to millions of patients worldwide who are suffering from kidney failure,” stated Dr. Tatsuo Kawai, a kidney transplant surgeon Kawai was a member of the team that executed the operation.
The institution stated that the pig kidney used in the transplant had been genetically modified to remove dangerous pig genes while adding specific human ones.
‘He is recovering well.’
According to the hospital, the patient, Richard Slayman of Weymouth, Massachusetts, “is recovering well at MGH.” And is anticipated to be discharged shortly.”
Slayman has type 2 diabetes and hypertension. He underwent a human kidney transplant in 2018. However, five years later, it began to fail, and he is now on dialysis.
Slayman stated that he accepted to the pig kidney transplant “not simply because it will benefit me. But a method to give hope to the thousands of people who require a transplant to survive.”
Slayman is black, and the hospital believes the surgery will be especially beneficial to ethnic minorities, who have a high incidence of kidney illness.
“This health disparity has been the target of many national policy initiatives for over 30 years. (But) with only limited success,” said Slayman’s nephrologist, Dr Winfred Williams.
“An abundant supply of organs resulting from this technological advance may go far to finally achieve health equity. It will also offer the best solution to kidney failure to all patients in need,” Williams said.
The transplantation of organs from one species to another is a rapidly expanding field known as xenotransplantation.
Pig kidney transplants had previously been performed on brain-dead people. But Slayman is the first live individual to get one.
Two individuals in the United States recently received pig heart transplants. However, both survived for less than two months.