BOSTON: A man who became the first human to receive a new kidney from a genetically modified pig earlier this year has died, said Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston.
The hospital in a statement on Sunday said that the Mass General transplant team is extremely saddened at the sudden death of Rick Slayman. The hospital said it had no indication that it was the result of his recent transplant procedure.
Slayman, 62, of Weymouth, Massachusetts, got the transplant in March during four-hour surgery that the hospital called a major step in the quest to provide more readily available organs to patients.
Slayman’s family in a statement said that they are saddened about the sudden death of Rick but take great comfort knowing he inspired so many.
He received a human kidney transplant at the same hospital in 2018 after seven years on dialysis, but the organ failed after five years of the medical procedure and he had to resume dialysis treatment.
According to the hospital the new kidney was provided by eGenesis of Cambridge, Massachusetts, from a pig that had been genetically modified.
Earlier Kidneys from similarly modified pigs raised by eGenesis had been transplanted successfully into monkeys.
According to a data maintained by the United Network for Organ Sharing, more than 100,000 people in the U.S. are awaiting an organ transplant.
NYU surgeons had earlier transplanted pig kidneys into brain-dead people.
A University of Maryland team in January 2022 transplanted a genetically modified pig heart into a 57-year-old man with heart disease, but he passed away two months later.
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