Second person to receive pig kidney transplant dies

The announcement was made by doctors at NYU Langone Health on July 10. Pisano had undergone a transplant of genetically modified pig kidneys and a mechanical heart pump in April. Initially, the woman recovered well. However, managing both the heart pump and the new kidney “presented unique challenges,” said Dr. Robert Montgomery, who led the surgical team. To optimize blood flow to the kidney, Pisano’s blood pressure dropped several times a day. As a result, the kidney lost its function, and doctors could no longer give her immunosuppressant drugs.

Forty-seven days after the surgery, doctors had to remove the pig’s kidney and put Pisano back on dialysis because the organ had been damaged by the drugs. Despite dialysis and a heart pump, the patient was placed on hospice care and eventually died, Dr. Montgomery said.

He praised Pisano's courage in attempting the experimental xenotransplant surgery. The scientists' goal is to overcome the severe organ shortage that is occurring in the United States and many other parts of the world.

"Lisa brought us closer to a future where one patient does not have to die so another can live. She will be forever remembered for her courage and good nature," Montgomery said.

Pisano said in April that she knew the pig kidney might not work, but she was still “taking a chance.” “You know, worst case scenario, if it doesn’t work for me, it will work for someone else,” she said.

Pisano is the second patient in the world to receive a kidney transplant from a gene-edited pig. The first was Richard “Rick” Slayman, who received the transplant at Massachusetts General Hospital and died in early May. Doctors said he died of a pre-existing heart condition, not as a result of the transplant.

There are currently more than 100,000 people on the waiting list for organ transplants in the United States, and thousands have died while waiting. Several biotech companies are racing to genetically modify pigs to make their organs more human-like and less likely to be rejected (attacked by the immune system).

In addition to the two pig kidney transplants, the University of Maryland also transplanted pig hearts into two men. Both died within a few months. Still, doctors learned a lot from the surgeries. They will begin formal clinical trials next year on people who are not critically ill.