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Patient lived with world's first pig kidney transplant for nine months before getting human organ (news.sky.com)
submitted 2 months ago by to c/health@lemmy.world
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The transplant lasted 271 days, the longest dialysis-free survival after a pig kidney transplant in a living human, as well as the first transition from pig-to-human kidney transplantation.

A man with end-stage kidney failure was kept off dialysis for nine months after being given a genetically modified organ from a pig.

The world-first procedure was carried out by the US-based Mass General Brigham academic centres and hospitals, which said the transplant was intended to be temporary before a permanent human donor could be found.

It marks the longest dialysis-free survival after a pig kidney transplant in a living human, as well as the first transition from pig-to-human kidney transplantation.

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[–] 6 points 2 months ago (10 children)

This is great news but if he was the first to get a pig kid transplant wouldn't he by definition also have the longest survival after a pig kidney transplant?

Like if I invent a new thing, by definition I made the best one at that time.

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  • [–] 4 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) (9 children)

    It's not that it's the first pig kidney transplant, it's that it's the first pig-to-human transplant as well. So they swapped his kidney, he lived for 9 months (record) then got swapped back to a human kidney.

    ... but that's where my understanding ends. I'm surprised this is the first pig-to-human kidney transplant; curious to know what happens to other transplant recipients.

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  • [–] 3 points 2 months ago (7 children)

    Oh, so this is the first time they were basically able to reverse the surgery... That makes more sense.

    This could be a game changer "well you have 2 months to live but we expect to not have a compatible human kidney for 7 months but we can extend your life till we get a human kidney with this pig one"

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  • [–] 4 points 2 months ago (6 children)

    Dialysis extends human life relatively indefinitely. Source: On dialysis.

    But it does take up a lot of my time, for one. I'm on dialysis for 4h15m three days per week. And there is a small risk every time I ahve dialysis, because it involves sticking me for two lines (output and input) and the small chance of some sort of problem with the machine (they clean them every time, but reality doesn't care if something goes wrong - it's pretty darn rare, but rare things happen).

    Transplants aren't a perfect solution. You must take a bunch of pills and if you miss a single does, the body starts rejecting the kidney, and the whole process lowers your immune system becasue that's what the drugs are having to do in the first place to not reject the kidney.

    So this is all good news (article), but it still ain't great.

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  • [–] 2 points 2 months ago (5 children)

    I understand that. Still good news though. Out of curiosity, say your doctor comes to you tomorrow to do something like what's in the article, would you?

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  • [–] 1 point 2 months ago (4 children)

    Yes good news per my last para, just mean even with that it's not great. Heh.

    Well right now I don't qualify for transplant. I have hopes maybe a few more months.

    I'm not sure if I'd take this even if I could get a transplant yet because it's a risky surgery for a few months of maybe skipping dialysis - and Spanish sucks. But surgery isn't trivial.

    So probably I would skip it but maybe not. Hard to say.

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  • [–] 3 points 2 months ago (3 children)

    That all makes sense except the Spanish sucks comment but I'm assuming that's a typo.

    Currently my kids doctor is asking if we want to get a vegistal nerve stimulator to control seizures. It's a lot less invasive then a kidney transplant but I still don't know, and I used to make medical implant stimulators. Granted it's a little different as they are only labeled for single focal seizures and he has multi focal but even without that it's still major surgery.

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  • [–] 1 point 2 months ago (2 children)

    Fuck the Spanish!

    Going too quickly on the phone, "dialysis sucks". lol

    Yeah, I can understand the hesitation. I've had seven heart attacks and they were thinking about an implant but ultimately decided against, but I was..... uncertain. But especially because I had heart attacks, not cardiac arrest.

    Everything is a damn risk. :(

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  • [–] 2 points 2 months ago (1 child)

    Is that an order to fuck the Spanish? I'm willing to try but don't think I'll be able to get to every person of Spanish descent.

    Yeah but besides drugs which they can't give much more of(meaning increasing dosages or adding in new ones, not that they stopping his current medication). I'm guessing by implant you mean implantable cardiac defibrillator? Those are very common and basically a routine surgery these days, still a risk but not that much.

    They said the implant for the kid wouldn't eliminate seizures, just reduce them and possibly reduce the amount of medication he needs. Risk(especially since it would have to be off-label) vs reward just didn't seem worth it. There's also deep brain stimulation for seizures but only approved for 18+(since probes go directly into brain and brain is still growing) and he's only 13 but atleast that also is approved for multifocal seizures.

    Sorry to hear about all your heart attacks. 7 is A LOT!! I'm glad you made it through all them.

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  • [–] 1 point 2 months ago

    It's only an order 1) with their consent 2) someone who you want to 3) someone who wants you to :)

    Oh, I have an entire writeup of my medical journey. lol.

    That's a lot for you to handle - not only the kidling, but even as a non-parent I can imagine the worry you have, and trying to protect him as best as you can. And it's not always easy to decide what's worth what risk or not.

    Oh, and to continue aswering bits completely our of order, yeah, implantable defib. I dunno, it made me nervous, especially since as far as I can tell, my risk of cardiac arrest seems low. And my heart attacks are getting less bad - I had four STEMIs, then two NSTEMIs, and the last one was IIRC an NSTEMI Type 2 which is one they wouldn't've even detected a few years or so ago. heh

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    • [–] 2 points 2 months ago

    I'm on dialysis. It sucks. It's better than dying, mind.

    Transplants aren't perfect, but they are better. But everything has risks, of course.

    Article is good news, though. If they can make them work better, that might be a better solution. Kidneys from healthy (human) donors last longer than kidneys from less healthy donors. So if they can make pig kidneys last as long as human kidneys, that could be really great news.

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