Woman too sick for human organ receives pig kidney transplant

Doctors successfully transplanted a pig kidney into a woman who was too sick for a “traditional” organ transplant on Wednesday.

Patient Lisa Pisano, 54, suffered from heart and kidney failure before the transplant, making her ineligible for a human-donated kidney, according to the Associated Press. The doctors at NYU Langone Health instead implanted a heart pump to keep her heart pumping during the procedure and transplanted a pig kidney into her body.

Pisano was able to use a walker after the procedure and took her first steps, later expressing gratitude for the procedure.

“I was at the end of my rope,” Pisano said. “I just took a chance. And you know, worst-case scenario, if it didn’t work for me, it might have worked for someone else and it could have helped the next person.”

Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston performed the first pig kidney transplant last month, implanting a genetically modified pig kidney into 62-year-old Richard “Rick” Slayman of Weymouth, Massachusetts. The organ must come from a pig that has been genetically modified so that its kidneys won’t be rejected by a human body, which would most likely happen with an unmodified pig kidney.

Dr. Tatsuo Kawai, who was part of the team that performed the first pig kidney transplant at Massachusetts General Hospital, celebrated the doctors involved with the second transplant.

“I have to congratulate them,” Kawai said. “When the heart function is bad, it’s really difficult to do a kidney transplant.”

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More than 100,000 people are on the transplant waiting list, according to the Associated Press, and many die before their chance to receive an implant.

“With this surgery I get to see my wife smile again,” said Pisano’s husband, Todd Pisano.