Lisa Pisano, a 54-year-old woman from New Jersey, recently underwent a groundbreaking procedure involving a mechanical heart pump and a pig kidney transplant at NYU Langone Hospital. Pisano, who suffers from heart failure and end-stage kidney disease, required regular hemodialysis.
The surgery took place on April 4, where Pisano received a heart pump to help treat her weak heart. Two days later, she underwent a gene-edited pig kidney transplant on April 12. This marked the first reported organ transplant using a mechanical heart pump and the second instance of a live pig kidney transplant in a human. Another patient who underwent a similar procedure, Rick Slayman, has been discharged from Massachusetts General Hospital in good health.
Dr. Robert Montgomery, the director of NYU Langone Transplant Institute, led Pisano’s surgery and emphasized the urgency of the procedure given her poor health condition. Pisano had a complex medical history, including previous diagnoses of colon cancer and the necessity for a urinary catheter. Her situation was further complicated by underlying health conditions that prevented her from receiving organ transplants through conventional means.
The innovative procedure involved a genetically modified pig kidney, which had its alpha-gal sugar gene disrupted to prevent rejection by the immune system. Dr. Montgomery explained that this approach simplifies the gene editing process for living organ transplants and addresses the challenges of organ scarcity. While Pisano still has a long road to recovery ahead, her kidneys and heart are functioning better post-surgery, and doctors are monitoring her progress closely.
Pisano shared that she had struggled to walk and breathe before the surgery but now feels a significant improvement in her quality of life. The medical community is closely watching the outcomes of these pioneering procedures to potentially expand access to life-saving treatments for patients with no other alternatives.
In conclusion, this groundbreaking procedure marks an important step forward in medical technology and could pave the way for more successful organ transplants in the future.
