A pig kidney in a living person
Gene-edited organs from another species reach living patients.
- When
- Known to
- ± 12 hours
- Era
- Contemporary, Holocene
- Where
- Boston, Massachusetts, United States · 42.3626° N, 71.0692° W
Surgeons at Massachusetts General transplanted a kidney from a pig with 69 edited genes into a living human on 16 March 2024. Earlier attempts had used brain-dead recipients. Survival has been measured in weeks to months rather than years, but the field has moved from proof of principle to clinical trials, against a waiting list on which thousands die each year.