A groundbreaking medical procedure took place in Boston, where surgeons successfully transplanted a kidney from a genetically engineered pig into a 62-year-old man who needed a transplant, the New York Times reports.
The Boston doctors performed operation on Richard Slayman, a patient with end-stage kidney disease at Massachusetts General Hospital, which lasted four hours.
If the breakthrough is successful, it could bring hope to people who are suffering from kidney diseases.
According to the New York Times report, the indications are encouraging so far.
Physicians at Massachusetts General Hospital, known as Mass General, have reported that the patient’s condition is steadily improving since the surgery last weekend.
Mr. Slayman becomes a beacon of hope for countless individuals suffering from end-stage renal disease and opens a new frontier in organ transplantation
“The patient, Mr. Richard ‘Rick’ Slayman of Weymouth, Mass., is recovering well at MGH and is expected to be discharged soon,” as stated on the hospital’s website on Thursday [today].
Also, the Director of the MGH Transplant Center, Joren C. Madsen, MD, DPhil, said, “The real hero today is the patient, Mr Slayman, as the success of this pioneering surgery, once deemed unimaginable, would not have been possible without his courage and willingness to embark on a journey into uncharted medical territory.
“As the global medical community celebrates this monumental achievement, Mr. Slayman becomes a beacon of hope for countless individuals suffering from end-stage renal disease and opens a new frontier in organ transplantation.”
The new kidney has already started producing urine, which is an encouraging sign of progress.
Slayman is currently moving around the hospital and could be released shortly.
According to Dr Winfred Williams, an associate chief of the nephrology division at Mass General and the patient’s primary kidney doctor, “A new source of kidneys could solve an intractable problem in the field — the inadequate access of minority patients to kidney transplants.”
A medical director for kidney transplantation at Mass General, Dr. Leonardo V. Riella, said the widespread use of genetically modified animal kidneys for transplantation could render dialysis unnecessary.
The transplant programme was developed by Mass General Brigham, the hospital’s parent organisation.
Those who suffer from kidney failure ultimately need dialysis as a crucial procedure to eliminate toxins from their bloodstream.
There is a significant demand for transplanted kidneys, with hundreds of thousands of individuals globally currently waiting to receive one from a living or deceased donor.
