62-year-old Rick Slaima successfully underwent operation on kidney transplantation from a genetically modified pig, which was a real breakthrough in the field of transplantology. The event opens up new opportunities for thousands of people in need of organs transplant.
Slaima has been suffering from type 2 diabetes for several years and hypertension. In December 2018, after 7 years on dialysis due to non-working kidneys, he was transplanted from a kidney donor. However, the donor bud after 5 years ceased to function, and Slaima again needed dialysis.
Doctors note that Slaima’s condition was far from optimistic, since the repeated use of his blood vessels for dialysis compromised the procedure. The patient faced complications associated with access to dialysis, which significantly reduced the quality of the patient’s life.
Slaima decided to transplant a kidney from the pig, realizing all the pros and cons: “I saw in this not only a chance to help myself, but also to give hope to thousands of people in need of a transplant for survival.”
The use of animal organs can be a solution to a chronic lack of donor organs. Pig kidney for Slaima was provided by Egenesis. The animal was genetically modified to remove genes potentially harmful to humans and adding certain human genes to improve compatibility.
Despite the successful transplantation, Slaima continues to take drugs to prevent organ rejection, and it is not yet clear how long the new kidney will function.