Surgeons at NYU Langone Health renowned academic medical center lin New York, have performed the world’s first combined heart pump and gene-edited pig kidney transplant on a woman with end-stage kidney diseaThis is a significant milestone in xenotransplantation, the transplantation of organs from animals to humans. Currently, gene-edited pig kidneys hold promise for addressing the organ shortage crisis.se.The feat is coming after surgeons at Massachusetts General Hospital completed the world’s first successful transplant of a pig kidney into a 62-year-old patient with end-stage kidney disease. The latest breakthrough heart pump and gene-edited pig kidney transplant surgeries at NYU Langone were carried out on a 54-year-old woman with end-stage kidney disease.

The patient, Lisa Pisano, from New Jersey, was facing heart failure and undergoing routine dialysis for end-stage kidney disease—but was not eligible for heart or kidney transplants given the reduced likelihood of success due to several chronic illnesses, NYU Langone Health said.The hospital which is affiliated with the New York University School of Medicine and known for its patient care, education, and research, said Pisano was matched to a gene-edited kidney of a pig with an attached thymus from United Therapeutics Corp., called a “UThymoKidney.”

She underwent the two procedures over nine days in early April. The first involved implanting a heart pump, dubbed a left ventricular assist device, LVAD, and the second being a xenotransplant of the pig kidney on April 12.

NYU Langone Health cardiac surgeon Dr. Nader Moazami said in a statement Pisano would not have been eligible for the LVAD procedure without a kidney transplant due to “high mortality in patients on dialysis with heart pumps.

Moazami said: “This unique approach is the first time in the world that LVAD surgery has been done on a dialysis patient with a subsequent plan to transplant a kidney.”

Pisano is currently recovering in the ICU and is expected to have at least a month of rehabilitation before she can potentially be discharged.

A gene-edited kidney is a kidney from a pig that has been modified through CRISPR-Cas9 gene editing technology to make it more compatible for transplant into a human recipient. It is a new and emerging field of research that holds promise for addressing the organ shortage crisis. edits made to the pig kidney typically involve removing genes that would cause the human body to reject the organ, and adding human genes that help the organ function better in the human body.

The risk of infection from the pig organ is also minimises as pigs carry viruses that could potentially infect humans.

The procedure is a significant milestone in xenotransplantation, i.e., the transplantation of organs from animals to humans.

Xenotransplantation refers to any procedure involving the “transplantation, implantation or infusion” of non-human organs, tissues or cells, according to the Food and Drug Administration. It has become more frequently studied. The procedure is not currently approved by the FDA, but it is allowed under the agency’s expanded access, or “compassionate use,” pathway, which allows patients to seek out experimental treatments under certain conditions, such as life-threatening issues. Certainly gene-edited pig kidneys have the potential to revolutionize organ transplantation and could provide a virtually unlimited supply of organs for people in need.

There are hundreds of thousands of people who are in need of a replacement kidney but have no access due to shortage of donor kidneys. Thousands of people die each day while waiting for an organ, even as more persons are added to the national transplant waiting list. Given the increasing need for organs, doctors hope that xenotransplants will become an alternative to human organs to save more lives while also improving patient quality of life
https://www.vanguardngr.com/2024/04/organ-shortage-surgeons-are-saving-human-lives-with-pig-kidneys/

Nigerians need to be careful, the government also need to ensure security because Nigeria is too loose and insecure. There is a black market for organ harvest in Nigeria been perpetuated by foreigners expecially the Chinese. Most of the kidnapping in Nigeria is not all about rituals or ransom