Doctors at Massachusetts General Hospital say they have successfully completed the world's first transplant of a genetically modified kidney from a pig to a living human.
The procedure was led by Brazilian doctor Leonardo V. Riella, Medical Director of Kidney Transplantation at the hospital in Boston and researcher at Harvard University.
The patient is Rick Slayman, a 62-year-old man from Weymouth, Massachusetts, who has been diagnosed with end-stage kidney 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 isn't Slayman's first kidney transplant. He received a previous human kidney in 2018, after living with diabetes and high blood pressure for many years. That kidney began to show signs of failure five years later and he resumed dialysis in 2023.
When he was diagnosed with end-stage kidney disease last year, he said his doctors suggested he try a pig kidney.
“I saw this not only as a way to help myself, but also as a way to give hope to the thousands of people who need a transplant to survive,” Slayman said in the written statement.
Tatsuo Kawai, director of the Legorreta Transplant Clinical Tolerance Center and the surgeon who performed the operation, said the organ was exactly the same size as a human kidney.
Source: CNN Brasil
Bruce Belcher is a seasoned author with over 5 years of experience in world news. He writes for online news websites and provides in-depth analysis on the world stock market. Bruce is known for his insightful perspectives and commitment to keeping the public informed.
