A dialysis patient has received a kidney transplant from a genetically engineered pig in a groundbreaking procedure, according to The New York Times. The first-of-its-kind surgery was carried out at the Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston last weekend and the patient is already able to walk and may soon be ready to be discharged, physicians told the Times.
The kidney was taken from a pig whose genes had been edited such that the donor organ would be less likely to be rejected by the human immune system.
The patient, Richard “Rick” Slayman, 62, had previously spent years on dialysis after his kidneys failed. He received a human kidney donation in 2018, but the organ failed and he resumed dialysis last year.
Slayman’s new kidney from the pig appears to be functional and he has been able to stop dialysis again, according to the Times. “He looks like his own self,” said Dr. Winfred Williams, Slayman’s primary kidney doctor. “It’s remarkable.” Read more at The New York Times.
I recall that the NYT also originated the same way, altho not in Belz, Bialystok, or Brooklyn. Mother pig still active.
Let’s see how long it’ll work.