Groundbreaking pig kidney procedure could change future of transplant surgeries
By Gail Paschall-Brown
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ORLANDO, Florida (WESH) — Human organs for transplantation are scarce.
Dr. Robert Montgomery of NYU’s Langone Transplant Institute says nearly half of the patients waiting for a transplant become too sick or die before getting one.
That’s why last month this lead surgeon and his team reached a turning point.
“We performed the first successful transplant of a pig kidney into a human,” Montgomery said.
The procedure involved a brain-dead patient whose parents donated her body to science and a genetically modified pig kidney.
It was attached to the outside of the body and functioned for nearly two and a half days without rejection.
“What was profound about these findings is that the pig kidney functioned just like human kidney transplant,” Montgomery said.
Dr. Kiran Dhanireddy is executive director of the Tampa General Hospital Transplant Institute.
“If we were to be in a circumstance where there were essentially a limitless supply of organs then many more patients could benefit,” Dhanireddy said.
“I would predict that we are in a year or two of a pig to living human transplant,” Montgomery said.
David Klassen heads the United Network for Organ Sharing which is the connection between organ donor and the recipients.
But for him it’s not just professional it’s personal.
He says his father was denied a heart transplant in 1974, deemed too old.
His father died and so did a young brother from a genetic heart condition that he says the family has.
“I had a heart transplant three years ago almost to the day of this procedure,” Montgomery said. “I know what it’s like to wait for an organ that may not come in time, This breakthrough represents new hope that the future will be different for my kids and anyone waiting for a life-saving organ. No one should die waiting.”
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