The patient who received the first pig kidney transplant dies

New York (EFE).- The patient who received the first kidney transplant from a genetically modified pig at a Boston hospital died seven weeks after the operation, according to the center late Saturday.

The patient, Rick Slayman, 62, had end-stage kidney disease when he received the transplant March 16 at Massachusetts General Hospital after a four-hour operation that was considered a medical milestone.

According to a joint statement with Slayman’s family, the center said it had “no indication that (the death) was a result of the transplant.” On the contrary, they talk about something “sudden” and highlight the work of the medical team that gave them a “second chance”.

People close to him said, “His tremendous efforts in pioneering xenotransplantation (from animal to human) gave our family seven more weeks with Rick, and the memories we made during that time will live on in our minds and hearts.”

Pig organ transplant

Pig kidneys were “edited with 69 genomes” using CRISPR-Cas9 technology. This involves eliminating potentially harmful porcine genes and later adding human genes to make it compatible with the human body.

Additionally, the scientists inactivated the endogenous pig retrovirus to reduce potential infection.

The donor pig was provided by a Massachusetts company called Eogenesis. Specializing in transplanting and modifying animal organisms to make them compatible with humans.

In recent months, pig organ transplants have been performed in several hospitals around the world, especially in the US. They did this with genetically modified kidneys and hearts on humans who are normally brain dead.

Following the Slayman case, a New York hospital last April performed the world’s second transplant of a modified pig kidney on a patient, a 54-year-old woman.

More than 103,000 people in the United States alone are currently on the waiting list to receive an organ. About 17 people die every day because they can’t find even one.