Richard Slayman, the primary individual to ever obtain a kidney from a pig, has died, in keeping with Massachusetts Normal Hospital, the place the transplant was carried out in March.
In a press release late Saturday, the transplant staff mentioned they “haven’t any indication” Slayman’s dying was the results of the transplant, which the hospital had heralded as a significant scientific achievement.
Slayman, 62, a techniques supervisor for the Massachusetts Division of Transportation, had already endured a transplant with a human kidney that needed to be eliminated due to issues and was fighting three-times-a-week dialysis when he agreed to the experimental pig-kidney process.
After they introduced that surgical procedure had been profitable, the Mass. Normal staff mentioned such animal-to-human transplants, often called xenotransplantation, provide the potential of fixing the human organ scarcity and a possible possibility for the tons of of 1000’s of People struggling on dialysis.
Slayman seemed to be recovering nicely. He walked inside a number of days of the March 16 process and was launched from the hospital April 3.
The hospital’s Saturday assertion included feedback from relations, saying they have been “deeply saddened” by his passing however grateful for the additional seven weeks they’d with Slayman. They appreciated understanding his participation within the analysis supplied inspiration to others.
“Tens of millions of individuals worldwide have come to know Rick’s story. We felt – and nonetheless really feel – comforted by the optimism he supplied sufferers desperately ready for a transplant,” the assertion mentioned, partly.
Mass. Normal transplant staff members, a few of whom had handled Slayman for years, praised his generosity and kindness and described him as a “beacon of hope” for different sufferers. “We’re deeply grateful for his belief and willingness to advance the sector of xenotransplantation,” the staff mentioned.
Two sufferers who obtained pig hearts on the College of Maryland Medical Heart additionally died inside two months of their procedures in 2022 and 2023.
A lady who obtained a pig kidney at NYU Langone Well being on April 12 continues to get well. Her coronary heart and kidney are “functioning optimally,” Dr. Robert Montgomery, who directs the NYU Langone Transplant Institute, mentioned in a press release to USA TODAY.
“Whereas she stays beneath intensive care, we see progress after her lengthy historical past of inauspicious well being challenges,” Montgomery mentioned. “We hope to transition her to rehab within the subsequent few weeks so we will get her again residence to her household.”
The pig organs used for transplant come from animals which can be gene-edited to make their organs much less more likely to be rejected by the human immune system. Rejection, which is widespread amongst human-to-human transplants, seemingly brought on the dying of one of many coronary heart transplant sufferers, who died six weeks after surgical procedure. No rejection was evident within the different two.
Karen Weintraub might be reached at kweintraub@usatoday.com.