The first person to receive a genetically modified pig kidney transplant has died almost two months after undergoing the procedure, his family and the hospital that performed the surgery reported this Saturday.
Richard “Rick” Slayman received the transplant at Massachusetts General Hospital in March at the age of 62. Surgeons said they believed the pig kidney would last at least two years. The Massachusetts General Hospital transplant team said in a statement that it was deeply saddened by Slayman’s death and offered its condolences to his family. They also reported that they had no indication that he had died as a result of the transplant.
The Weymouth, Massachusetts, man was the first living person to undergo the procedure. Previously, pig kidneys were temporarily transplanted into brain-dead donors. Two men received heart transplants from pigs, although both died within months.
Slayman received a kidney transplant at the hospital in 2018, but had to undergo dialysis again last year when he showed signs of rejection. When dialysis complications arose that required frequent procedures, his doctors suggested a pig kidney transplant. In a statement, Slayman’s family thanked the doctors for their work. “His tremendous efforts in leading the xenotransplantation gave our family seven more weeks with Rick, and the memories created during that time will remain in our minds and hearts,” the statement said.
They said Slayman underwent the surgery in part to provide hope to the thousands of people who need a transplant to survive. “Rick achieved that goal and his hope and optimism will last forever,” the statement said.
Xenotransplantation refers to the healing of human patients with animal cells, tissues or organs. These efforts failed for a long time because the human immune system immediately destroyed the foreign animal tissue. Recent attempts have involved pigs that have been modified to make their organs more like humans. More than 100,000 people are on the national waiting list for a transplant, most of them kidney patients, and thousands die each year before their turn comes.
