THE BUZZ!
First living patient with transplanted pig kidney goes home from the hospital
First up.
Imagine getting a second chance at life thanks to a groundbreaking medical procedure, and a pig. That’s exactly what happened to Rick Slayman, the world’s first person to receive a genetically modified pig kidney and walk out of the hospital healthy!
The 62-year-old man had been battling end-stage kidney disease for years. But this new treatment using a specially bred pig kidney saved his life.
Doctors believe this pig kidney could last for years but also acknowledged that there are many unknowns in animal-to-human transplants.
Nonetheless, it is a promising solution for the thousands of people waiting for organ transplants.
According to the Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network, roughly 27,000 kidneys were transplanted in 2023, but nearly 89,000 people were on the waitlist for those organs.
This, could change that.
Source: CNN
