A man had a pig kidney removed after living with it for a record 9 months

Surgeons of Massachusetts General Hospital confirmed to WIRED in a statement that it removed a genetically engineered pig kidney from a 67-year-old New Hampshire man after a period of decreased kidney function. The organ functioned for approximately nine months, longer than previous pig transplants, before it was removed on October 23.

Tim Andrews He received a pig kidney on January 25 After being on dialysis for more than two years due to end-stage kidney disease. His rare blood type meant he faced a much longer wait time for a kidney from a human donor than most patients, who already wait between three and five years on average for a kidney.

The shortage of human donors has prompted scientists to do so Look to animals as a potential source Of the members. Kidneys are the most in demand, with Nearly 90,000 people are waiting to get one In the United States alone. Due to the shortage of organs, the United States will perform only 28,000 kidney transplants in 2024.

Pig organs are being explored as an option, although genetic differences between pigs and humans mean they would be quickly rejected if transplanted into a person. Therefore, scientists resorted to gene editing to make pig organs more compatible with the human body, and so far they have conducted a number of experimental organ transplants.

Andrews was the fourth person in the world to receive a kidney from a genetically modified donor pig. The first, Richard Solomon, who was also operated on at Massachusetts General Hospital, He died in May 2024, approximately two months after his transplant. The second person, Lisa Pisano, underwent a pig kidney transplant and heart pump surgery at NYU Langone Health, but The kidney was removed In May 2024 after less than two months due to failure. Pisano later died. Tawana Looney became the third recipient of a pig kidney, again at NYU Langone, and lived with the organ for more than four months before surgeons removed it in April this year due to organ rejection.

Since Andrews’ surgery, a patient in China has received a modified pig kidney, and surgeons at Massachusetts General Hospital have transplanted one into another patient, 54-year-old Bill Stewart, bringing the total number of people known to have received pig kidneys to six.

Before the pig kidney transplants, two patients received genetically engineered pig hearts at the University of Maryland in 2022 and 2023, but did not become well enough to leave the hospital. Both died within two months of their procedures.