Man who received genetically modified pig kidney in a transplant discharged

Effectively transplanting an organ from an animal to a human is a feat that experts have been trying to do for some years; and although it is experimental surgery, most cases are not successful.

It may interest you: Man receives kidney from a genetically modified pig and already produces urine

However, it seems that this could change after Rick Slayman, 62, was sent home from Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, two weeks after receiving a successful organ transplant using a genetically modified pig kidney..

This is the first kidney transplant of its kind in a living recipient. Doctors consider this a historic milestone in xenotransplantation, the implantation of an animal organ into a human being.

We are happy to share that today, Rick Slayman, our first patient to ever receive a genetically edited pig kidney transplant, has been discharged from the hospital. He is recovering well and will continue to recuperate at home with his family. pic.twitter.com/26a9f9T85N

— MassGeneral News (@MassGeneralNews) April 3, 2024

For its part, The patient thanked the medical team for giving him a new opportunity and now hopes that the organ will adapt to his body. and allow you to live many more years.

“This moment, leaving the hospital today with one of the best health outcomes I’ve had in a long time, is one I’ve been looking forward to for many years. Now it is a reality and one of the happiest moments of my life,” he expressed.

On March 16, doctors implanted Slayman’s kidney; after a while, the organ began to produce urine. Today, Slayman’s kidney is functioning and he is no longer on dialysis.

This is the second kidney transplant for Slayman, who suffers from type 2 diabetes, a disease that caused renal insufficiency and why I need a new organ from a human donor in 2018 after being on dialysis for seven years.

You can also read: Scientists successfully transplant a pig’s kidney into a human body

However, Five years later, the human kidney began to fail and he was put on dialysis again, seeing their quality of life diminished, The man volunteered to have the pig kidney implanted.

The organ was genetically modified with CRISPR-Cas9 technology, which eliminates some of the pig’s genes and replaces them with human ones. to improve its compatibility. The kidney was provided by Massachusetts-based biotechnology company eGenesis.

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