Pig kidney transplant patient leaves hospital
The initial recipient of a genetically modified pig kidney transplant has been discharged from the hospital. The 62-year-old individual, undergoing the groundbreaking surgery at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH), returned home on Wednesday, marking two weeks post-operation.
Despite previous failures in organ transplants from genetically modified pigs, this procedure’s success has been lauded by scientists as a historic breakthrough in transplantation.
MGH, Harvard Medical School’s largest teaching hospital in Boston, announced the milestone through a press release on Wednesday.
Richard “Rick” Slayman from Weymouth, Massachusetts, suffering from end-stage kidney disease, necessitated an organ transplant. His physicians performed a successful four-hour surgery on March 16, implanting a genetically edited pig kidney into his body.
Subsequently, Mr. Slayman’s kidney is reported to be functioning well, eliminating the need for dialysis.
Expressing his joy, Mr. Slayman remarked that leaving the hospital and returning home was one of the happiest moments of his life, freeing him from the burden of dialysis that had affected his quality of life for many years.
Having undergone a human kidney transplant from a deceased donor in 2018, which began failing last year, Mr. Slayman’s doctors proposed a pig kidney transplant.
Viewing it as not only a personal opportunity but also a beacon of hope for thousands in need of transplants, Mr. Slayman embraced the idea.
The pig kidney he received was modified by the Cambridge-based pharmaceutical company eGenesis, removing harmful pig genes and incorporating specific human genes to enhance compatibility with humans.
The procedure drew upon the hospital’s legacy of pioneering the world’s first successful human organ transplant – a kidney – in 1954, along with five years of collaborative research with eGenesis on xenotransplantation.
The Food and Drug Administration approved the procedure, granting a single Expanded Access Protocol, commonly known as compassionate use, for patients with life-threatening illnesses to access experimental treatments.
The transplant team hailed the procedure as a historic advancement offering a potential solution to the global organ shortage, particularly benefiting ethnic minority communities disproportionately affected by the scarcity.
Dr. Winfred Williams, Mr. Slayman’s physician at MGH, emphasized the transformative potential of this technological leap in achieving health equity and providing a viable solution to kidney failure.
Data from the US non-profit United Network for Organ Sharing reveals over 100,000 Americans in need of lifesaving organ transplants, while the number of donors in 2023 was just under 23,500. Kidneys top the list as the most sought-after organ for transplantation.
While this marks the first pig kidney transplanted into a human, it’s worth noting that it isn’t the first instance of a pig organ being utilized in a transplant procedure.
Two other patients have received pig heart transplants, but those procedures were unsuccessful as the recipients had died a few weeks later.
In one case, there were signs that the patient’s immune system had rejected the organ, which is a common risk in transplants.
