A pig kidney is transplanted into a living person for the first time

(CNN) — Doctors at Massachusetts General Hospital say they have successfully completed the world’s first transplant of a genetically modified kidney from a pig into a living human.

The patient is Rick Slayman, a 62-year-old man from Weymouth, Massachusetts, who was diagnosed with end-stage renal disease.

In a written patient statement provided by the hospital, Slayman said he had been a patient in the hospital’s transplant program for 11 years. This is not Slayman’s first kidney transplant. He first received it from a human in 2018 after living with diabetes and high blood pressure for many years. He started showing signs of kidney failure five years later and started dialysis again in 2023.

When he was diagnosed with end-stage kidney disease last year, he said his doctors suggested he try pig kidneys.

“I saw it not only as a way to help myself, but as a way to provide hope to the thousands of people who need a transplant to survive,” Slayman said in a written statement.

Director of Lagoreta Center for Clinical Transplant Tolerance and operating surgeon Dr. Tatsuo Kawai said that this organ is the same size as a human kidney.

When the kidney was inserted, Kawai claimed it immediately “turned pink” and began producing urine. Everyone in the operating room applauded.

“It was truly the most beautiful kidney I’ve ever seen in my life,” Kawai told a news conference.

At Thursday’s news conference, doctors said Slayman is recovering well and is expected to be released from the hospital soon.

This is the third xenotransplantation of a pig organ into a living human. The first two transplants were heart transplants in living patients who had no other transplant options. The organs were transplanted under special rules that allowed the compassionate use of experimental therapy for patients in particularly extreme situations. Both patients died weeks after receiving their organs.

The organ came from a pig that was genetically modified by the Egenesis company to make it more compatible with humans.

“This successful procedure ushers in a new era in medicine in which we have the ability to eliminate organ supply as a barrier to transplantation and realize our vision that no patient dies waiting for an organ,” said Dr. Michael Curtis said. New launch.

“We are humbled by the courage and generosity of this patient, a true pioneer who has enabled these great advances in transplant science and medicine.”

The demand for organs is far greater than the quantity available. 17 people die every day in the United States waiting for an organ. The kidney is an organ that is in short supply. According to the Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network, an estimated 27,000 kidneys were transplanted in 2023, but about 89,000 people were waiting for those organs.

Experts say xenotransplants, or transplants from animals to humans, could be an important part of solving the shortage of donor organs.