First human recipient of pig kidney transplant dies
The first recipient of a modified pig kidney transplant died on Saturday, around two months after the surgery was carried out in the US's Boston.
The family members of 62-year-old Richard “Rick” Slayman and the Massachusetts General Hospital, where the procedure was performed, did not link the transplant surgery to his death.
“We have no indication that it (Slayman’s death) was the result of his recent transplant,” the hospital said in its statement.
His family also thanked doctors for their work and said: “Their enormous efforts leading to the xenotransplant gave our family seven more weeks with Rick…”
According to the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), “Xenotransplantation is any procedure that involves the transplantation, implantation or infusion into a human recipient of either (a) live cells, tissues, or organs from a nonhuman animal source, or (b) human body fluids, cells, tissues or organs that have had ex vivo contact with live nonhuman animal cells, tissues or organs.”
It is the use of animal cells and organs to heal humans. Xenotransplantation involving the heart was first tried in humans in the 1980s.
The need for such a procedure was felt due to the significant gap between the number of transplantations needed by patients and the availability of donor organs.
IBNS
Senior Staff Reporter at Northeast Herald, covering news from Tripura and Northeast India.
Related Articles
Mumbai to Shanghai in real time: Kokilaben Hospital performs India’s first cross-border Robotic Surgeries!
Kokilaben Dhirubhai Ambani Hospital, Mumbai, has achieved a historic national milestone by successfully performing India’s first international remote robotic surgeries on two patients in Mumbai, with the operating surgeon located in Shanghai—over 5,000 kilometres away.
Village panic after funeral feast: 200 get rabies shots over ‘infected’ buffalo milk raita
Nearly 200 residents of a village in Uttar Pradesh were administered rabies vaccine shots after it emerged that raita—a curd-based Indian dish they had consumed—was prepared using milk from a buffalo that later died after being bitten by a dog.
Stop taking pills without advice! PM Modi flags rising antibiotic resistance
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday urged citizens to refrain from self-medicating, especially with antibiotics, during his monthly Mann Ki Baat radio address.
Climate disaster shock: Heatwaves, fires and floods cost world $120 billion in 2025 , claims report
Heatwaves, wildfires, droughts and storms caused more than $120 billion in economic losses worldwide in 2025, according to a new Christian Aid report, Counting the Cost 2025. The findings highlight the escalating financial and human toll of climate change, with fossil fuel expansion identified as a central driver of the crisis.
Latest News
Ganga is here: Nayanthara’s first look from Yash-starrer Toxic unveiled
LG’s home robot is coming: CES 2026 reveal promises a ‘zero labour home’
Why George Clooney moved his family to France — and took French citizenship
Final goodbye to Khaleda Zia: Jaishankar flies to Dhaka for funeral
