Pig Kidney Successfully Transplanted Into Human For First Time

By Stefan J. Bos, Chief International Correspondent Worthy News

MASSACHUSETTS, USA (Worthy News) – There was hope for a 62-year-old man with end-stage kidney disease for an extended life on Friday after an American hospital successfully transplanted a pig kidney into the patient in the world’s first such operation.

The Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) announced the pig kidney used in the four-hour procedure had been genetically edited to remove harmful pig genes and add certain human ones.

The hospital also said the patient, Richard Slayman of Weymouth, Massachusetts, “is recovering well at MGH and is expected to be discharged soon.”

MGH called the procedure “a major milestone in the quest to provide more readily available organs to patients.”

Transplanting organs from one species to another is a growing field known as xenotransplantation, experts say.

It came as a life-changing procedure for Slayman, who had received a transplant of a human kidney at the same hospital in 2018 after seven years on dialysis.

ORGAN FAILURE

However, the organ failed after five years, and he had resumed dialysis treatments, the MGH said.

The kidney was provided by company eGenesis of Cambridge, Massachusetts, from a pig that had been genetically edited, officials said. That firm also inactive viruses inherent to pigs that can potentially infect humans, Worthy News monitored.

Kidneys from similarly edited pigs raised by eGenesis had reportedly successfully been transplanted into monkeys that were kept alive for an average of 176 days and, in one case, for more than two years.

With science rapidly developing since then, the findings suggested that Slayman may continue to live for years to come.

However, it comes amid ethical concerns as a University of Maryland team in January 2022 transplanted a genetically modified pig heart into a 57-year-old man with terminal heart disease, but he died two months later.

Yet despite dangers, the latest pig kidney transplantation could raise hope for more than 100,000 people in the U.S. awaiting an organ for transplant, according to the United Network for Organ Sharing.

Kidneys are in the greatest demand, the group said.

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