US man who received pig kidney transplant dies

Massachusetts’s Richard Slayman, who had undergone the first successful pig kidney transplant, breathed his last just two months after the groundbreaking procedure.

The pig kidney had undergone 69 genomic edits before being transplanted into body of 52-year-old, as part of a procedure called xenotransplantation.

According to The US Sun, Slayman was released from Boston’s Massachusetts General Hospital on April 6, a few weeks after undergoing the surgery. At this time, however, no evidence is pointing to his death being related to the transplant, says the hospital’s transplant team.

In a statement, the Mass General transplant team said they are deeply saddened at the sudden passing of Rick Slayman. They added: ”We have no indication that it was the result of his recent transplant.”

They further said that Richard Slayman will forever be seen as a ray of hope to numerous transplant patients in the world and we are deeply grateful for his trust and willingness to advance the field of xenotransplantation.

Richard Slayman had a complicated medical history, he report said, adding that the genetically modified pig kidney was his last resort.

Before Richard Slayman was set to discharge from the hospital, he had an organ rejection scare, but being a common form of rejection, doctors were able to quickly address it.

The rejection stabilized after three days on a high dose of steriods, as did the kidney and Rischard Slayman was soon released.