WASHINGTON — A woman who received a pig kidney transplant is back on dialysis because surgeons had to remove the gradually failing organ after just 47 days. Lisa Pisano was the second person to receive a kidney from a gene-edited pig, and NYU Langone Health announced that she is stable after an operation to remove the organ earlier this week. The first patient to receive a pig kidney transplant, Richard “Rick” Slayman at Massachusetts General Hospital, died in early May, nearly two months after his transplant.
Doctors there said there was no indication he died as a result of the experimental transplant. Pisano’s heart and kidneys were failing when, in a dramatic pair of surgeries in April, doctors implanted a mechanical pump to keep her heart beating and then the pig kidney. At first she seemed to be recovering well.
But Dr. Robert Montgomery, who led the transplant, said there were “unique challenges” to managing both the heart pump and new kidney. Her blood pressure dropped too low multiple times for optimal blood flow to the kidney.
The kidney lost function until doctors no longer could justify keeping her on immune-suppressing medications, Montgomery said in a statement Friday. A recent kidney biopsy showed no signs of rejection — the biggest concern in highly experimental animal-to-human transplants — but there was “significant injury” from insufficient blood flow, he said. NYU will further study the explanted kidney for further insight on how it reac.
