Historic pig transplant recipient dies of ‘unexpected cardiac event’

The dead by Rick Slayman, the first man to receive a kidney transplant from a genetically engineered pigwas caused by an “unexpected cardiac event,” and there was no sign of his body rejecting the organ, his transplant surgeon said Wednesday.

The revelation, six months after the 62-year-old Weymouth, Massachusetts, resident died, was the first public statement of Slayman’s cause of death and the most detailed confirmation that Slayman’s new kidney was still viable and doing its job two months after he was dead. underwent the historic procedure. In a May news release announcing his death, hospital officials said they had “no indications” that death was caused by his transplant, but did not provide additional details.

More than 100,000 people in the United States are on the waiting list for a kidney transplant, and according to the National Kidney Foundation, only about 17,000 people receive one each year. Twelve people die every day waiting for a kidney. Organ transplants from pigs to humans may one day provide a solution to this critical shortage.