First human to receive transplanted pig kidney dies
(VOVWORLD) - A man with end-stage renal disease who earlier this year became the first human to receive a new kidney from a genetically modified pig has died, Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston said.
 Patient Rick Slayman (Photo credit Massachusetts General Hospital) |
But the hospital added in a statement that they have no reason to believe his death was the result of the transplant.
Richard Slayman, 62, received the transplant in March in a four-hour surgery that the hospital at the time called "a major milestone in the quest to provide more readily available organs to patients."
The kidney came from a pig that had been genetically altered to remove genes harmful to a human recipient and add certain human genes to improve compatibility, according to the hospital.
Mr. Slayman had received a transplant of a human kidney in 2018 after seven years on dialysis, but that organ failed after five years and he had resumed dialysis treatments.