WASHINGTON: A US hospital announced on Thursday that a group of surgeons has successfully implanted a genetically altered pig kidney into a living human for the first time.
A 62-year-old man with end-stage kidney disease underwent a four-hour procedure on Saturday, according to Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH).
The hospital released a statement saying, “The procedure marks a major milestone in the quest to provide more readily available organs to patients.”
Global organ shortages are a persistent issue, and the Boston hospital said that over 1,400 people are awaiting kidney transplants at MGH alone.
Dr. Tatsuo Kawai, a part of the team that performed the surgery, stated, “Our hope is that this transplant approach will offer a lifeline to millions of patients worldwide who are suffering from kidney failure.”
According to the hospital, specific human genes were added while hazardous pig genes were removed from the pig kidney used for the transplant.
Richard Slayman, a resident of Weymouth, Massachusetts, “is recovering well at MGH and is expected to be discharged soon,” according to the hospital.
Slayman, who has Type 2 diabetes and hypertension, had a human kidney transplanted in 2018, but it failed five years later, forcing him to start dialysis.
