A woman who had a pig kidney transplant and an implanted device to keep her heart beating died, her surgeon announced Tuesday.
Lisa Pisano was almost dead from kidney and heart failure when physicians at NYU Langone Health performed the extraordinary pair of procedures in April. The New Jersey woman appeared to be recuperating well at first, but approximately 47 days later, surgeons had to remove the pig kidney and put her back on dialysis after her cardiac drugs destroyed the organ.
Despite the dialysis and heart pump, Pisano underwent hospice care and died on Sunday, according to NYU Langone transplant surgeon Dr. Robert Montgomery.
Montgomery complimented Pisano’s daring in undertaking the latest pig organ-to-human procedure, known as xenotransplantation. The project intends to one day address the critical shortage of transplantable organs.
Lisa helped us get closer to reaching a future in which no one has to die for another to survive,” Montgomery added. “She will forever be remembered for her courage and good nature.”
In April, Pisano, 54, told The Associated Press that she was aware that the pig kidney would not work, but “I just took a chance.” And, worst-case scenario, if it didn’t work for me, it could have worked for someone else.”
Pisano was the second person to get a kidney from a gene-edited pig. The first, Richard “Rick” Slayman, received his transplant at Massachusetts General Hospital and died in early May, over two months later. His doctor stated that he died from a previous cardiac disease, not as a result of the transplant.
More than 100,000 people are on the transplant waiting list in the United States, with the majority of them in need of a kidney, and thousands die while waiting. Several biotech businesses are genetically engineering pigs to make their organs more human-like and less susceptible to destruction by people’s immune systems.
In addition to the two pig kidney studies, the University of Maryland implanted pig hearts into two individuals who had no other options and perished within months as per APNEWS.
Still, based on what doctors learned from previous attempts, as well as research in donated bodies, they want to begin official clinical trials with patients who aren’t as unwell next year.