man with genetically altered pig kidney is going home

[dead0man]

link

Today, Mr. Rick Slayman, the world's first living recipient of a genetically-edited pig kidney transplant, was successfully discharged home from Massachusetts General Hospital.

Mr. Slayman released the following statement:

This moment – leaving the hospital today with one of the cleanest bills of health I’ve had in a long time – is one I wished would come for many years. Now, it’s a reality and one of the happiest moments of my life. I want to thank everyone at Massachusetts General Hospital who cared for me before and after my historic transplant, especially Dr. Williams, Dr. Riella, Dr. Kawai, and the countless nurses who looked after me every day of my stay. The care I received was exceptional and I trust physicians of the Mass General Brigham health system with my life. I’m excited to resume spending time with my family, friends, and loved ones free from the burden of dialysis that has affected my quality of life for many years. Lastly, I want to thank anyone who has seen my story and sent well-wishes, especially patients waiting for a kidney transplant. Today marks a new beginning not just for me, but for them, as well. My recovery is progressing smoothly and I ask for privacy at this time.

so that's pretty cool

[DaleCooper]

There is a ton of potential in the near future for repairing and replacing people's damaged organs and body parts. Exciting news.

[Progressive Pessimist]

When my pig misbehaves I threaten that we'll harvest her organs and give them to people who need them.

She rarely misbehaves though. She's an angel.

[Pres Mike]

I wish this man the best. I really hope animal organs will solve the organ shortage. BUT two prior men got heart transplants from a pig and died anyway

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/man-received-second-pig-heart-transplant-dies-hospital-says-rcna123104

[GM Team Member and Deputy PPT WB]

[Sir Mohamed]

I thought he already died, but that was someone who got the heart of a pig transplanted.

[lfromnj]

Great news to hear, I don't expect it to last that long but compared to a heart once the kidney fails he can go back on dialysis and wait a bit more. Obviously there is a limit to surgery a human body can take but it hopefully technology can improve.

[Kahane's Grave Is A Gender-Neutral Bathroom]

With this and the what basically amounts to a cure to CF this has been a pretty good year for medical technology.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

It's interesting, but it's best not to get ahead of ourselves on this. Getting over the first few hurdles is important, but the big challenge is long-term management.

[Joe Republic]

Update: he died 

[H.E. VOLODYMYR ZELENKSYY]

[Agafin]

This sucks.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

Update: he died 

Always overwhelmingly likely: no one liable to survive long even with an ordinary transplant would be liable to be used in this sort of study for the time being and he would have been on extremely high levels of anti-rejection medication. I suppose the big question is whether what's known as Acute Rejection was the cause: ordinarily it's actually surprisingly treatable as terrifying as it sounds (and is!) but I don't know if that would be true in this case.

[emailking]

It says there's no evidence the death was a result of the transplant. With dialysis you don't need a kidney but it's a huge convenience.

I don't feel great about raising animals to farm their organs à la My Sister's Keeper. Maybe someday it will be possible to grow or "print" them synthetically.

[Meclazine for Israel]

R.I.P. Genetically altered pig kidney man.

[lfromnj]

Yeah it would be something really bad for the kidney to directly kill him. If it failed he could have survived a bit longer on dialysis. It might be more related to the suppressants required.

[Rand]

Update: he died 

You’ve gotta be kidneying me…

[Sirius_]

It says there's no evidence the death was a result of the transplant. With dialysis you don't need a kidney but it's a huge convenience.

I don't feel great about raising animals to farm their organs à la My Sister's Keeper. Maybe someday it will be possible to grow or "print" them synthetically.

It isn't like we were using the kidneys and hearts of livestock pigs anyway.

[dead0man]

It says there's no evidence the death was a result of the transplant. With dialysis you don't need a kidney but it's a huge convenience.

I don't feel great about raising animals to farm their organs à la My Sister's Keeper. Maybe someday it will be possible to grow or "print" them synthetically.

It isn't like we were using the kidneys and hearts of livestock pigs anyway.

they use every part of the pig, they are better than the fabled Native Americans at it.  if you're not eating, here is a story on how small slaughterhouses aren't able to cash in on the networks in place that make the "extras" profitable.  Also, the donor animals have to be very specifically bread and have "science" done to it, not just random farm pigs for slaughter.