First pig kidney transplant patient leaves hospital

The first person to ever receive a kidney transplant from a pig has been discharged from hospital, Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) said on X, formerly known as Twitter.

The 62-year-old man was sent home two weeks after the first-of-its-kind surgery at the hospital.

“We are happy to share that today, Rick Slayman, our first patient ever to receive a genetically edited pig kidney transplant, has been discharged from the hospital. He is recovering well and will continue to recuperate at home with his family,” the hospital said alongside images of the patient and his doctors on X.

Richard “Rick” Slayman had been battling end-stage kidney disease and required an organ transplant, according to a press release by the hospital.

He had been living with Type 2 diabetes and hypertension for many years and previously received a kidney transplant from a deceased human donor in December 2018. However, the transplanted kidney showed signs of failure approximately five years later.

On March 16, doctors were able to successfully transplant a genetically-edited pig kidney into his body during a four-hour-long surgery. The doctors said Slayman’s kidney is now functioning well, and he is no longer on dialysis.

The success of the surgery has been widely hailed by scientists as a historic milestone in the field of transplantation after years of organ transplants from genetically modified pigs had failed in the past.