ACS Fellows Successfully Transplant Porcine Kidney into Patient

A 62-year-old state transportation department supervisor in Boston, Massachusetts, is the first patient to successfully receive a genetically modified porcine kidney transplant.

This medical milestone was performed in a 4-hour operation on March 16 at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH), by a surgical team that included Tatsuo Kawai, MD, PhD, FACS, and Nahel Elias, MD, FACS.

Patient Richard Slayman had been suffering from diabetes and hypertension for many years and received a human kidney in 2018. The original transplant failed 5 years later, and Slayman subsequently developed complications, including congestive heart failure.

The kidney came from a special group of pigs bred to produce human-like kidneys, and researchers at Mass General Brigham, the parent organization for MGH, have been working with a biotech company to develop the right genetic animal donors for the transplant to work.

The patient is expected to be released from the hospital soon.