Doctors participate in an operation at Jena University Hospital. The world's first patient with a transplanted pig kidney has died, almost two months after the operation. Jan-Peter Kasper/dpa-Zentralbild/dpa
The world's first patient with a transplanted pig kidney has died, almost two months after the operation.
In March, Massachusetts General Hospital transplanted the genetically-edited pig kidney into Rick Slayman, a 62-year-old man living with end-stage kidney disease.
The operation was a milestone in xenotransplantation – the transplantation of organs or tissues from one species to another – as a potential solution to the worldwide organ shortage, the hospital said at the time.
Slayman's death was not linked to the transplant, the hospital said on Saturday.
