Pig kidney transplant patient released from hospital

The first man to receive a kidney transplant from a pig that has been genetically altered was released from a Massachuesetts hospital yesterday, according to a BBC report.

The 62-year-old was sent home two weeks after the groundbreaking surgery at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH).

Transplanting organs from genetically modified pigs has not always worked.

However, scientists have praised the procedure's current success as a historic milestone in the history of transplantation, according to the BBC report.

The news was released by MGH, the largest teaching hospital of Harvard Medical School located in the US city of Boston, through a press release yesterday.

Richard "Rick" Slayman of Weymouth, Massachusetts, was diagnosed with end-stage kidney disease and needed an organ transplant, according to the hospital's press release.

On March 16, his doctors performed a successful four-hour surgery to transplant a genetically modified pig kidney into his body.

They said Slayman was no longer receiving dialysis because his kidney was operating normally.

Being able to leave the hospital and return home was described as "one of the happiest moments" of Slayman's life in a statement, the BBC report said.

"I'm excited to resume spending time with my family, friends, and loved ones free from the burden of dialysis that has affected my quality of life for many years."

He received a human kidney transplant from a deceased donor in 2018, but it started to fail last year, so the doctors considered using a kidney from a pig.

"I saw it not only as a way to help me, but a way to provide hope for the thousands of people who need a transplant to survive," he was quoted in the BBC report as saying.

The Cambridge, Massachusetts-based pharmaceutical company eGenesis altered the new pig kidney he was given, removing "harmful pig genes and adding certain human genes to improve its compatibility with humans," according to the company's statement.