New Hampshire man resumes dialysis after record 271 days living with a pig kidney
WASHINGTON– A New Hampshire man is returning to dialysis after living with a genetically modified pig kidney for 271 days, doctors announced Monday. His experience helps researchers in their quest for animal-to-human transplants.
Tim Andrews, 67, had the organ removed Oct. 23 because its function was declining, according to Mass. Gen. Brigham. In a statement, his transplant team called Andrews a “selfless medical pioneer and inspiration” for patients suffering from kidney failure.
Andrews’ experiment illustrates the lessons researchers have learned from each experiment involving what’s called xenotransplantation. Early attempts using genetically engineered pig organs to look more like humans – two hearts and two kidneys – were short-lived.
Then researchers began considering patients not as sick as previous recipients of these experiments — and an Alabama woman’s pig kidney lasted 130 days before needing to be removed last spring, the record Andrews surpassed.
More than 100,000 people, most of whom need kidneys, are on the U.S. transplant list, and thousands are dying while they wait.
Andrews, of Concord, New Hampshire, knew his blood type was particularly difficult to match and sought an alternative, getting in shape to qualify for Mass General’s xenotransplantation pilot study. His doctors said he remained on the transplant list.
In June, the Mass General team transplanted a pig kidney into another New Hampshire man who continues to do well. The pilot study is expected to conclude with a third pig kidney transplant later this year.
Two companies, eGenesis and United Therapeutics, are preparing to launch more rigorous clinical trials of pig kidney transplants.
Chinese surgeons are also studying this new area, reporting a pig kidney transplant last spring and separately a pig liver transplant that had to be removed after 38 days.
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