A New Jersey woman fighting for her life received an incredible gift from a pig last month at NYU Langone Health in New York.
Lisa Pisano’s combination of heart and kidney failure left her too sick to qualify for a traditional transplant, The Associated Press reports. Doctors at NYU Langone Health came up with a plan to implant a mechanical pump to keep her heart beating and days later, transplanted a kidney from a genetically modified pig. Unlike the prior xenotransplant experiments, both her heart and kidneys had failed.
She is the first woman to receive a pig organ, and the second known living recipient to receive a gene-edited pig kidney. She is also the first person to receive a pig’s thymus gland.
Pisano, 54, is recovering well and took her first few steps this week. She told The Associated Press that she felt like it was worth taking a chance because if it didn’t work for her, it might help the next person.
More than 100,000 people are on the U.S. transplant waiting list, most who need a kidney. To fill this shortage of donated organs, several biotech companies are looking at ways to use genetically modified pig organs. Precise changes were made to the pig’s DNA to help keep the human body from recognizing the animal’s organs as foreign and rejecting them, experts explain.
Learn More:
Boston Doctors Transplant Genetically Modified Pig Kidney into Living Person for First Time
Promising Kidney Transplant Solution Taps Expertise of Dr. Jim Lowe
New Study Shows Promise for Genetically Modified Pig Organ Transplants
