For the first time, doctors transplant the pig's kidney into man

According to CNN, the four-hour operation was conducted Saturday at the Massachusetts General Hospital, which was also the first hospital to perform kidney transplants in 1954.

The patient, Rick Slayman, a 62-year-old manager with the Massachusetts Transport Department, which was diagnosed with kidney disease in the final phase, is recovering well and is expected to leave the hospital soon.

Doctors said on Thursday they believe his new kidney could last years, but also admitted there are many unknowns in animal transplants to man.

In a written statement offered by the hospital, Slayman said he had been a patient in the hospital transplant programme for 11 years. He previously received a kidney from a human donor in 2018 after living with diabetes and high blood pressure for many years. That kidney started showing signs of failure five years later, and he resumed his dial in 2023.

I saw not only as a way to help me, but a way to give hope to thousands of people who need a transplant to survive”, Slayman said in a statement.

Doctors who were not involved in this case said the operation represented a significant medical milestone.

To see this finally realised after years of work and co-operation is really a big step forward and a big moment for transplanting”, Dr. Parsia Vagefi, chief of surgical transplant at the UT Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas.