World’s First Pig Kidney Transplant: The 62-year-old patient had end-stage kidney disease, and the procedure took four hours to complete.
Washington: The hospital announced on Thursday that American surgeons have successfully transplanted a genetically altered pig kidney into a living patient for the first time. This treatment could potentially assist address the ongoing scarcity of donor organs.
A 62-year-old man with end-stage kidney disease underwent a four-hour procedure on Saturday, according to Massachusetts General Hospital.
The hospital known as Mass General, or MGH, said in a statement that “the procedure marks a major milestone in the quest to provide more readily available organs to patients.”
Global organ shortages are a persistent issue, and the Boston hospital said that over 1,400 people are awaiting kidney transplants at MGH alone.
“We hope that this transplant approach will provide a lifeline to millions of kidney failure patients worldwide,” stated Dr. Tatsuo Kawai, one of the team members involved in the groundbreaking procedure.
According to the hospital, the Massachusetts biotech business eGenesis supplied the pig kidney that was utilized for the transplant. It had undergone genetic editing to add certain human genes and remove some detrimental pig genes.
According to Mike Curtis, CEO of eGenesis, “this represents a new frontier in medicine and demonstrates the potential of genome engineering to change the lives of millions of patients globally suffering from kidney failure.”
Richard Slayman of Weymouth, Massachusetts, is “recovering well at MGH and is expected to be discharged soon,” according to the hospital.
Immunosuppressive medication will be part of his regimen to prevent kidney rejection from the pig.
Slayman, who has Type 2 diabetes and hypertension, underwent a human kidney transplant in 2018, but it failed five years later, forcing him to start dialysis.
Slayman stated that he accepted the kidney transplant from the pig “not only as a way to help me, but a way to provide hope for the thousands of people who need a transplant to survive.”
Slayman is Black, and according to the hospital, people of color with high incidences of renal illness may benefit especially from the operation.
Winfred Williams, the nephrologist at Slayman’s, stated, “This health disparity has been the target of many national policy initiatives for over 30 years, with only limited success.”
“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,” Williams stated.
The field of xenotransplantation, which involves the transfer of organs from one species to another, is expanding.
Although pig kidneys have been used to treat brain dead patients in the past, Slayman is the first surviving recipient.
Two patients at the University of Maryland recently had genetically engineered pig hearts transplanted into them, but neither patient lived more than two months.
The pigs used as organ donors, according to Mass General, were “grown in isolation under special conditions to prevent the pig from being exposed to infections that might harm the human recipient.”
“These special pigs have organs of similar size and function to human organs,” it continued. “The genetic modifications of these pigs have also made them more compatible with humans.”
“Compassionate use” is a policy that, according to Mass General, permits patients with “serious or life-threatening conditions” to receive experimental medicines that have not yet received FDA approval. This policy was applied during the transplant.
