Man, 62, in Boston receives a pig kidney, just days after Chinese doctors transplanted a pig’s liver into a 50-year-old patient, marking a double medical breakthrough

Animal-to-human transplant science took a major step forward this week after surgeons transplanted a kidney and liver from pigs into humans.

In Boston, a sick 62-year-old man received a genetically modified kidney from a pig in a world first.

The new organ began producing urine almost immediately, Mass General doctors said, and the patient is already walking the hospital hallways. He may be fired soon.

At the same time, in China, a 50-year-old man became the first person to receive a genetically engineered pig liver – which was kept in his body for ten days.

Surgeons say the organ’s color and texture appeared “normal” when extracted, and it even secreted bile – a fluid that aids digestion – as a sign that it was working.

Both breakthroughs could offer hope for new ways to supply hospitals with organs for transplants, as the waiting list has been growing for years.

How did it work? This image shows the process from the pig embryo to attaching the organ to a human patient. The patient in Boston received a genetically modified pig kidney

There are more than 100,000 patients on the waiting list for a new kidney in the US, while almost 12,000 are waiting for a new liver.

Patients on the kidney transplant list – such as those with kidney failure and advanced kidney disease – often have to wait three to five years.

During this time, many are in pain and need to use dialysis – a machine that filters waste products from the blood when the kidneys stop working.

For liver transplant patients – including those with liver failure or cirrhosis or scarring of the liver – patients may have to wait up to five years.

Every year, approximately 5,000 people on the kidney waiting list die before receiving the organ, while one in ten patients on the liver waiting list dies before their transplant.

It is hoped that animal transplants – medically called xenotransplantation – can help fill the gap and provide more organs to waiting patients.

This image, provided by Mass General Hospital, shows the genetically modified pig kidney sitting on ice before implantation

This image shows a nurse in the hospital taking the pig kidney out of the box before the transplant

Doctors say the patient who received the kidney transplant – named Richard “Rick” Slayman – was back to “his own self” just days after the operation.

“It’s remarkable,” said Dr. Winfred Williams, head of the hospital’s nephrology department. New York Times.

Mr Slayman has now come off dialysis and tests show that the new kidney also produces creatinine, a waste product.

He said in a statement: “I saw it not just as a way to help me, but as a way to offer hope to thousands of people who need a transplant to survive.”

Mr Slayman – who also has diabetes and high blood pressure – had been a regular patient at the hospital for 11 years before he was given the genetically modified pig kidney.

He was on dialysis for seven years after suffering from kidney failure before receiving a new human kidney in 2018.

But this failed within five years, after which Mr Slayman had to undergo dialysis again and was told he would have to wait five to six years for another organ.

But fears grew that he would not make it as he developed serious complications from dialysis, such as blood clots.

It was at this point that doctors offered the man, who worked in the state transport, the opportunity to undergo a pig kidney transplant.

“He became despondent,” Dr. Williams said. ‘He said, ‘I just can’t keep doing this. I can’t keep doing this.’

‘He would have to wait five to six years for a human kidney. He couldn’t have survived.’

After Dr. Williams had suggested the surgery, the couple had a lengthy discussion about the pros and cons before Mr. Slayman agreed to the procedure.

The pig kidney was developed by biotech company eGenesis. To edit the organ, they deleted three genes involved in the organ’s possible rejection. The scientists also inserted seven human genes to make it more compatible.