Richard Slayman, 62, of Weymouth, Massachusetts, became the first human to successfully go through a pig kidney transplant. The surgery was conducted by doctors out of Massachusetts General Hospital’s Transplant Center.
The director of the Transplant Center, Joren C. Madsen, 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.”
Excerpt from www.independent.co.uk
In a world first, doctors in Boston have performed a kidney transplant from a genetically modified pig into a human.
The kidney was taken from the pig and transferred into a 62-year-old man who was living with end-stage kidney disease.
The miraculous procedure took place on 16 March at Massachussets General Hospital by surgeons and took four hours to complete.
This procedure is a major turning point for the medical world after it has proven a milestone in the pursuit of making organs more readily available to patients.