NYU Langone Health has announced via press release that a team of surgeons have performed the first-ever combined mechanical heart pump and gene-edited pig kidney transplant surgery in a 54-year-old woman with heart and kidney failure—an advancement that NYU Langone Health states “showcases the possibility and hope of modern medicine”.
The transplants were performed by the team in two stages: first, they surgically implanted the heart pump days before embarking on the gene-edited pig kidney transplant, which also included the pig’s thymus gland to aid against rejection. Before undergoing the procedure, the patient, Lisa Pisano, faced both heart failure and end-stage kidney disease (ESKD) that required routine dialysis. She was not a candidate for heart and kidney transplants due to having multiple chronic medical conditions that reduced the likelihood of a positive outcome. Another contributing factor was the lack of suitable transplant organs for those who require them.
In the press release, NYU Langone Health states that nearly 104,000 people are on the waiting list for a transplant, with 89,360 of those waiting for a kidney. It also added that nearly 808,000 people in the USA have end-stage kidney disease, but only about 27,000 were able to receive a transplant in 2023.
The hospital states that, to date, there have been no documented instances of anyone with a mechanical heart pump receiving an organ transplant of any kind, and that this is only the second known transplant of a gene-edited pig kidney into a living person. It is also, they aver, the first instance of a genetically edited pig kidney being transplanted with the thymus combined.
Commenting on the success of the procedure, Pisano said: “All I want is the opportunity to have a better life. After I was ruled out for a human transplant, I learned I didn’t have a lot of time left. My doctors thought there may be a chance I could be approved to receive a gene-edited pig kidney, so I discussed it with my family and my husband. He has been by my side throughout this ordeal and wants me to be better.”
Sharing his thoughts on the combined operations, the lead transplant surgeon for this procedure Robert Montgomery (NYU Langone Transplant Institute, New York, USA) stated: “It is incredible to consider the scientific achievements that have led to our ability to save Lisa’s life, and what we are endeavouring to do as a society for everyone in need of a life-saving organ. This could not have been done without the dedication and skill of the many talented physicians, researchers, nurses, health administrators, and perioperative care teams at NYU Langone Health, and the numerous pioneers who came before us.”
