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BOSTON ‒ Massachusetts General Hospital announced Wednesday morning it has successfully transplanted a genetically modified pig kidney into a person, the first time someone has survived with that organ from another species.
Two patients previously received gene-edited pig hearts at the University of Maryland Medical Center; one survived for about two months in 2022, the other for nearly six weeks in 2023.
Kidneys are considered an even more important goal in terms of relieving pressure on the organ transplant field.
Out of more than 100,000 people on the organ transplant waitlist, more than 88,000 are waiting for a kidney, so the need for kidneys is urgent, experts say. In 2022 there were just under 43,000 transplants performed in the United States, 25,000 of which were kidney transplants.
The surgical team led by Drs. Tatsuo Kawai and Nahel Elias performed the four-hour procedure earlier March 16, connecting the pig kidney’s blood vessels and ureter with those of the 62-year-old patient, Richard ‘Rick’ Slayman of Weymouth, Mass. Slayman is recovering well at MGH and is expected to be discharged soon.
Slayman, who had a previous transplant at Mass. General 11 years ago, said in a statement that he has “the highest level of trust” in the caregivers there. His transplanted kidney began to fail in 2023 and he considered a pig organ, he said, “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.”
