Washington. A team of surgeons successfully transplanted a kidney from a genetically modified pig to a living patient for the first time, a US hospital reported this Thursday.
The patient, a 62-year-old man, is “recovering well” from the operation, which was performed Saturday, Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston said in a statement.
Pig kidneys had already been transplanted into brain-dead people.
In the past, living patients also received a heart transplant from a genetically modified pig, but died.
Genetic modifications are carried out to reduce the risk of rejection.
The doctors “explained to me in detail the pros and cons of the procedure,” said the patient, Richard Slayman, quoted in the statement. “I saw it as a way to not only help myself, but also to give hope to thousands of people who need a transplant to survive.”
More than 100,000 people are waiting for an organ transplant in the United States, especially a kidney.
The field of xenografts (organ transplants from animals to humans) has advanced rapidly in recent years.
In September 2021, surgeons at New York’s Langone Hospital performed the world’s first pig kidney transplant into a brain-dead person.
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– 2024-04-08 17:48:25
