A 62-year-old American leaves the hospital just two weeks after successfully undergoing a genetically modified pig kidney transplant at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston.
The patient, Richard “Rick” Slayman, received the organ on March 16, a world first. The surgery lasted four hours at the Boston hospital, according to their press release.
Michelle Rose / Massachusetts General Hospital
The 62-year-old suffers from end-stage renal failure, a chronic illness where the kidneys can no longer function on their own. Today, his kidney is functioning and he is no longer on dialysis.
“This moment – leaving the hospital today with one of the cleanest checkups I’ve had in a long time – is one I wish I had experienced for many years to come. Now it’s a reality and one of the happiest moments of my life,” he says.
A new start
He thanked all the medical staff involved and who cared for him during “his historic transplant”.
“I am delighted to be able to once again spend time with my family, friends and loved ones, free from the burden of dialysis which has affected my quality of life for many years,” he adds.
Michelle Rose / Massachusetts General Hospital
This is Slayman’s second kidney transplant; he received one from a human donor in 2018 after being on dialysis for 7 years, having suffered from type 2 diabetes for years.
That kidney failed five years later. And that’s when he volunteered.
“I saw it not only as a way to help myself, but also as a way to give hope to the thousands of people who need a transplant to survive,” he says.
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Hope for the future
Organ transplants from pigs have failed in the past, so this is the first such kidney transplant in a human recipient.
This successful surgery raised hopes that animal transplantation into humans, xenotransplantation, could address the global shortage of donor organs.
“It was such a happy day for all of us,” said Dr. Leonardo Riella, medical director of the kidney transplant hospital, in an interview with NBC10 Boston.
Michelle Rose / Massachusetts General Hospital
The kidney received by Rick Slayman was genetically modified by the American company eGenesis.
Their technology was used to remove harmful porcine genes and add some human genes to improve its compatibility with women and men.
Last year, a pig kidney was implanted into a brain-dead man named Maurice “Mo” Miller. The organ worked for two months.
