This man survived dialysis for 271 days with pig kidney
Author, James Gallagher
Designation, Health and Science Correspondent
Published 9 hours ago
Reading Time: 5 minutes
According to American doctors, a kidney transplanted from a pig worked for 271 days in a patient's body. This is the longest record so far.
Patient Tim Andrews said that this transplant gave him a new 'hope' and he did not need to go to the hospital and get his blood cleaned with a dialysis machine for several months.
The team at Mass General Brigham Hospital says their work shows that pig organs can be used as a temporary 'bridge' until a human kidney becomes available.
However, the pig's kidney eventually stopped working and had to be removed. After this, Andrews had to undergo dialysis for some time, until he found a donor.
Due to shortage of organs for transplant, doctors and scientists are exploring the methods of xenotransplantation, in which organs of other animals are used.
Nearly 1 lakh people are waiting for a kidney transplant in America, whereas only 25,000 transplants take place every year. More than 7,000 people are on the list for kidney transplant in Britain.
'There was a waiting period of 7 years for kidney transplant'
Andrews was told it could take seven years before his turn came. But people undergoing dialysis live on average only five years.
He said, "I had a little less time. It becomes very frustrating."
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But he described the idea of pig kidney transplants as 'hope' and 'a light at the end of a dark tunnel'.
He said, "Hope is the biggest thing that gives us the opportunity to be free from the machine and live our lives."
What is xenotransplantation?
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Pigs are considered the best animal for xenotransplantation. The shape of its organs is almost correct and humans have many years of experience in raising them.
But it is not that you go directly to a farm, take out a pig's kidney and implant it in a human's body.
The human body will immediately recognize the organ as foreign and launch an immune response that will destroy the kidney.
Within a few minutes, holes will start forming in it, every cell will be damaged and the organ will turn black due to blood clotting from within.
Therefore researchers developed 'Yucatan Miniature Pig'. 69 types of changes have been made in their genes, so that their organs can be made 'suitable for the human body'.
Due to these changes, some of the characteristics of pig cells are removed, which our immune system recognizes and attacks.
Some human DNA is also added, which creates a camouflage that helps the pig's tissue hide from the human immune system.
Apart from this, to prevent infection, changes are also made in the pig's DNA to inactivate the hidden virus.
The transplanted kidney worked for 271 days
Due to type 2 diabetes, Andrews had severe kidney disease and his kidneys were failing.
When he underwent xenotransplantation on 25 January 2025, he was 66 years old.
According to information recently published in the medical journal The Lancet, the kidney of the transplanted pig started working immediately.
This kidney continued to function for 271 days. After this, he was fired in October the same year. After this, Tim had to undergo dialysis for 82 days, until he received a kidney from a donor in January this year.
That kidney is working well now.
Dr. Leonardo Riella of Mass General Brigham's Center for Transplantation Sciences said "we are in a crisis" because of the shortage of organs available for transplant.
He said, "We are working very hard to provide hope. We really think that xenotransplantation can be an option for patients who do not have a donor. This allows us to potentially bypass dialysis and get them to a transplant."
Opportunities and Challenges
There were initially signs that the immune system was rejecting Andrews' organ, but this was successfully treated by changing his medication.
However, after about six months, the blood vessels in the kidney started getting damaged and the organ became swollen and then started to stop functioning.
The exact reason for this is not clear as there was no sign of antibody attack on the pig kidney.
"This case illustrates both the possibilities and challenges of clinical kidney xenotransplantation," the doctors said in their article in The Lancet.
We used AI to translate this article, which was originally written in English. A BBC journalist checked this translation before publication. Learn more about how we're using AI.
