In a groundbreaking medical procedure, doctors at NYU Langone Health have successfully performed a surgery that combines a heart pump and a genetically engineered pig kidney transplant. This remarkable achievement offers new hope for patients who are unable to receive human organ transplants due to various medical conditions.

The surgery, which took place on April 12, involved a 54-year-old New Jersey woman named Lisa Pisano. Facing heart failure and end-stage kidney disease, Pisano was ineligible for a human organ transplant due to additional medical complications. To improve her chances of survival, her medical team implanted a mechanical heart pump called a left ventricular assist device in a prior surgery.

After the heart pump was in place, the team proceeded with the kidney transplant, making Pisano only the second living person known to have received a genetically engineered pig kidney. However, what sets this transplant apart is the addition of the pig's thymus gland, which was transplanted along with the kidney. The thymus gland plays a crucial role in educating the immune system and is expected to help prevent rejection of the transplanted organ.

During a press conference held via Zoom, Pisano expressed her gratitude and reported feeling fantastic after the surgery. Without this groundbreaking opportunity, her life expectancy would have been limited to just days or weeks.

This incredible achievement marks the first time that a patient with a mechanical heart pump has received any kind of organ transplant. The combination of a pig kidney and thymus transplant makes it the second known transplantation of a gene-edited pig kidney into a living person. The entire series of procedures was completed over a nine-day period.

The research team at NYU Langone Health has been on a mission to address the growing organ shortage crisis through xenotransplantation, which involves transplanting animal organs into humans. With over 100,000 people on the national transplant waiting list in the United States alone, and 17 deaths occurring daily due to a lack of organs, this breakthrough offers a glimmer of hope to those in desperate need.

In recent years, the NYU team has been conducting experiments involving the transplantation of genetically engineered pig hearts and kidneys into deceased humans. By monitoring the viability of these pig organs in humans, they have made significant progress. In fact, one patient was able to live with a pig kidney for a remarkable two months, setting a new record in xenotransplantation. Previous studies on monkeys have shown that pig kidneys can function for up to two years.

With the success of the pig kidney and thymus transplant in Lisa Pisano, the medical community is eagerly awaiting further developments in this revolutionary field of transplantation. As scientists continue to explore the potential of xenotransplantation, they hope to offer new kidneys to those in need, ultimately saving countless lives and providing a much-needed solution to the organ shortage crisis.

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