The 62-year-old patient was suffering from end-stage kidney disease.
Topline
Surgeons at Massachusetts General Hospital announced Thursday they completed the world’s first successful transplant of a pig kidney into a living patient, a 62-year-old patient with end-stage kidney disease, a procedure doctors hope is a breakthrough in helping people whose kidneys have failed.Key Facts
Rick Slayman underwent a four-hour-long procedure on Saturday to receive a genetically modified pig kidney, Massachusetts General Hospital said.
The hospital said the kidney was genetically modified to remove “harmful pig genes” and add other human genes that would improve its compatibility with humans, while scientists also deactivated pathogens in the pig donor to eliminate the risk of infection.
Slayman had been on dialysis after his kidneys—which he received through a transplant in late 2018—failed last year, according to the hospital, which noted Slayman has also lived with Type 2 diabetes and hypertension “for many years.”
Slayman also experienced severe vascular complications during dialysis, causing his blood vessels to clot and fail, which required him to be hospitalized every two weeks.
