First patient to receive a pig kidney transplant, hailed as a historical milestone, dies. Image source: Pfree2014 via Wikimedia Commons.
The first patient to receive a genetically modified pig kidney transplant has died two months after the surgery, according to the hospital that performed the procedure.
Surgeons at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) successfully transplanted a pig kidney for Richard “Rick” Slayman, in March, who was 62 years-old and suffering from end-stage cancer kidney disease.
Surgeons said they believed it would last him for at least two years.
His death was confirmed on Saturday 11 May by the hospital and his family members.
In a statement issued late Sunday, the hospital offered its condolences on Slayman’s passing, but said that the surgery was unrelated to his death.
“Mass General is deeply saddened at the sudden passing of Mr. Rick Slayman. We have no indication that it was the result of his recent transplant,” said the transplant team at MGH.
“Slayman will forever be seen as a beacon of hope to countless transplant patients worldwide and we are deeply grateful for his trust and willingness to advance the field of xenotransplantation.”
Xenotransplantation refers to the transplantation of tissues, living cells, or organs from one species to another.
Pig kidney and heart transplants have previously been used on brain-dead patients, and heart transplant patients, although both heart patients died within several months.
Slayman was the first living person to have a pig kidney transplant procedure — a historical milestone in the field of medicine.
In 2018, he received a human kidney transplant, but it started to fail him within five years.
His doctors suggested a pig kidney transplant, which Slayman said he agreed to “not only as a way to help [himself], but a way to provide hope for thousands of people who need a transplant to survive”.
Slayman’s family said they were “comforted by the optimism he provided patients desperately waiting for a transplant”.
Organ shortages are a constant problem globally, and more than 89,000 patients were on the national kidney waiting list as of March 2024, according to a US health government website.
About 17 people die on average each day waiting for an organ transplant.
