Surgeons Transplant Pig Kidney Into a Patient, a Medical Milestone

[Native]

Source: The New York Times

Surgeons in Boston have transplanted a kidney from a genetically engineered pig into an ailing 62-year-old man, the first procedure of its kind. If successful, the breakthrough offers hope to hundreds of thousands of Americans whose kidneys have failed.

So far, the signs are promising. The new kidney began producing urine shortly after the surgery last weekend and the patient's condition continues to improve, according to physicians at Massachusetts General Hospital, known as Mass General. He is already walking the halls of the hospital and may be discharged soon.

A new source of kidneys "could solve an intractable problem in the field -- the inadequate access of minority patients to kidney transplants," said Dr. Winfred Williams, associate chief of the nephrology division at Mass General and the patient's primary kidney doctor.

If kidneys from genetically modified animals can be transplanted on a large scale, dialysis "will become obsolete," said Dr. Leonardo V. Riella, medical director for kidney transplantation at Mass General. The hospital's parent organization, Mass General Brigham, developed the transplant program.

Read more: Surgeons Transplant Pig Kidney Into a Patient, https://www.nytimes.com/2024/03/21/health/pig-kidney-organ-transplant.html?unlocked_article_code=1.eU0.iSMB.cu2SRRj_rl1F&smid=nytcore-android-share

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Per the article:
● 800,000 Americans have kidney failure and require dialysis.
● Over 100,000 are on a waiting list to receive a transplant.
● Tens of millions of Americans have chronic kidney disease.
● three genes involved in potential rejection were removed.
● seven human genes were added to enhance compatibility.
● retrovirus pathogens were inactivated.

[twodogsbarking]

1. Thank you science and people. Thank you.

[Marthe48]

2. I have my fingers crossed

My best friend had a kidney transplant in 2018. She had to wait a long time for a donor. She is doing fine. I stayed with her as she recovered and met a lot of people who were transplant patients. The stories they told about waiting for an organ were sobering. And their joy at getting a second chance at life is unforgettable. If the number of kidneys available increases, it'll be a huge help to so many people, not just diabetics, but also people with other kinds of kidney disease or damage.

While she was on dialysis, her dr. installed an AV port for the dialysis treatment. It seems that it is easier to put an AV port in than remove, so she still has it. It failed in December and she had to have emergency surgery to save her arm. So far, so good. The vascular doctor put a valve from a cow in to the AV port, and it is working good now. They need regular maintenance, so if you have an AV port, talk to your dr.

[Ray Bruns]

3. Stewie Griffin solved this problem years ago

https://m.

[DoBW]

11. yo

[Jean Genie]

4. Good news?

I guess this is a good thing. And I guess I'd feel even more positive about this if I - or my loved ones - needed the kidney. But I have to admit I have some serious reservations about "harvesting" organs from other sentient beings, even genetically modified ones.

[Hekate]

22. Thank goodness you have the option of refusal then, and can die with your ethics intact.

[Miguelito Loveless]

30. That was a bit harsh

The poster was just expressing a misgivings, which is quite valid. It is easy to justify such a procedure when we know we’ll never be in a situation where we are bred for organ harvesting.

Yet.

[Hekate]

32. Sorry to seem uncaring but surely you know there is a traffic in human organs from 2 sources

Live donors who are impoverished in poor countries — and #2 seemingly from China, where white collar crimes have been known to get the death penalty.

Urban legend? Conspiracy theory? I don’t think so.

[getagrip_already]

5. Im waiting for the fundies to find a way to ban this....

Probably because it is discriminatory to some religions, or violates the sanctity of the human vessel, or something stupid about God and personhood and embryos (even pig embryos).

[flying_wahini]

6. I had a personal friend who had bladder cancer and had a pig's bladder inserted.

She lived another 20 years with it.

[flying_wahini]

7. Pigs are also skin graft donors to burn patients. I had a patient with 3rd degree burns that needed grafts.

This little old lady that had gotten a couple of spotted pig’s grafts (they grew off). She was a cute polka dotted patient for a while.

[riversedge]

9. When my mom was 80 yr old-she had been having lower back pain for years. Then

a surgeon would not operate because of her age. But we found one who would use a pig bone to insert in her lower back to keep it straight and stop pinching on the nerve.

It worked and this was decades ago. She used a walker for many years--alert and no back pain.

[riversedge]

8. Good news.

[DoBW]

10. what about the pig brain?

Didn't Trump already get one? ( ok ... sorry pigs, mea culpa)( no offence to any legit comments either)

[lastlib]

31. They have also transplanted a pig's anus onto his face.....

a natural progression, I think....

[Beakybird]

12. The idea of intelligent mammals being bred just so their organs can be ripped out seems wrong.

[Pluvious]

15. I'm sure most vegans would pass on this option as well... (nt)

[Prairie_Seagull]

17. I have 2 daughters who are vegan and this

is going to make for an interesting conversation. There are clearly ethics issues, If someone I knew and loved needed one? This would be a cringeworthy decision for me. I love bacon so I suppose that says it all really. I expect raised voices. My daughters are smart and strong young women and boy I mean girl howdy.

[Native]

20. This article about the ethical issues regarding this is really good.

I thought these two points most interesting:

1. Montgomery agreed that the practice raises important animal welfare questions. When I asked him about the euthanizing of the donor pig, he raised the question, “Is it more humane to euthanize the pig and remove both kidneys for two transplants, or to remove one kidney and have the pig sustain the recovery period, where there’s pain and risk of infection?” It’s also not clear who would care for a donor pig that did survive, and who could pay for that care.

2. Peter Singer, the moral philosopher at Princeton who helped launch the modern animal rights movement and is also a vocal advocate for kidney donation, told me in an email that he is cautiously supportive of even lethal pig donations. “I would not insist on the pig surviving the surgery, because that’s an uncertain benefit and would require twice as many pigs to be used,” Singer wrote. “What I would like to see is that all pigs involved in the procedure — including at the research stage, which obviously will continue for some years, and including the pigs’ parents — are reared in conditions that meet not only their physical needs but their psychological and social needs — so not in a factory farm. That seems a minimum quid pro quo for the benefit the pig is conferring on humans.”

https://www.vox.com/future-perfect/22738680/pig-kidney-human-transplant

[GregariousGroundhog]

13. Didn't they also do this with a heart a year or two back?

[Native]

19. Yup. Looks like they added an additional human gene this time around &

it sounds like they are using new anti-rejection drugs. I sure hope this guy lives. He's been so sick for so long, and he's continued to work through it all.

[Bayard]

14. Good news from a human standpoint

It would be even better if they could progress to growing them in a lab.

Both of my older sisters were Type 1 diabetics from an early age. Both had kidney failure. My oldest sister got one of my kidneys, so no waiting for her. She lived another 30+ years with it. My other sister had 2 cadaver transplants, because the first one failed. She lived another 30 years with that one.

What about the financial aspects of this procedure? Insurance is not going to pay for it as long as its considered experimental. You think surgeons will donate their services?

[Pluvious]

16. My guess is...

... this would go the same way "longevity treatment" would be deployed...

The rich and connected first

[Native]

21. The thrust of the article is how this would level the playing field.

[Hekate]

29. The costs extend waaaay beyond the surgeon/ nurses/anesthesiologist....

,,,, hospital space/ supplies/ lifetime of anti rejection drugs/ follow up care,,,

[republianmushroom]

18. Amazing, and to those that don't believe in silence, sit on it.

[JustABozoOnThisBus]

23. "silence"? or "science"?

Anyway, yes, it is amazing.

[republianmushroom]

24. delete by republianmushroom.

[republianmushroom]

25. My apology for the smart answer I gave you.

[JustABozoOnThisBus]

26. No problem. And, I see how either would fit.

[Midnight Writer]

27. Wow! I figured Trump would be too selfish to donate a kidney.

[CaliforniaPeggy]

28. I don't think anyone who's the least bit sane would want one of his. ICK. I sure wouldn't! nt