World's first pig kidney transplant patient dies several months after surgery: Massachusetts USA

Recently CNN.co.jp reported the following:

世界初のブタ腎臓移植患者、手術の数カ月後に死亡　米マサチューセッツ州

2024.05.13 Mon posted at 10:16 JST

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（ＣＮＮ） 米マサチューセッツ総合病院で世界初のブタの腎臓移植手術を受けた６２歳の男性が、手術から数カ月後に死亡した。

リック・スレイマンさんは昨年、末期の腎臓病と診断され、今年３月に遺伝子を編集したブタの腎臓を移植された。マサチューセッツ総合病院は、スレイマンさんの死がこの移植手術の結果だったことをうかがわせる痕跡はないと強調している。

スレイマンさんは４月に退院。医師団は、新しい腎臓は何年も機能し続けるだろうと予測する一方で、動物から人への移植には未知の部分も多いと説明していた。

「スレイマンさんは世界中の数えきれない移植患者にとって、永遠に希望の光とみなされるだろう。異種移植分野の発展のために彼が寄せてくれた信頼と意欲に深く感謝する」。マサチューセッツ総合病院はそうコメントしている。

糖尿病と高血圧で長年の闘病を続けていたスレイマンさんは、２０１８年に人間のドナーの腎臓移植手術を受けた。しかし５年後に腎不全の兆候が現れ、２３年に透析を再開した。

３月の手術はマサチューセッツ総合病院臨床移植免疫寛容センターの河合達郎所長が執刀した。

スレイマンさん以前に行われたブタの臓器移植は２例のみ。いずれも心臓移植で、手術から数週間後に死亡している。

Translation

(CNN) A 62-year-old man who underwent the world's first pig kidney transplant at Massachusetts General Hospital died several months after the surgery.

Rick Slayman was diagnosed with final-stage kidney disease last year and received a gene-edited pig kidney transplant in March of this year. Massachusetts General Hospital insisted there was no evidence that Slayman's death was a result of the transplant.

Slayman was discharged from hospital in April. While doctors predicted the new kidney would continue to function for many years, they also explained that there were many unknowns about animal-to-human transplants.

"Mr. Slayman will forever be seen as a ray of hope for countless transplant patients around the world. We are deeply grateful for the trust and commitment he has placed in advancing the field of xenotransplantation." Massachusetts General Hospital made such comments.

Slayman, who had been battling diabetes and high blood pressure for many years, underwent a kidney transplant from a human donor in 2018. But five years later, signs of kidney failure appeared, and he restarted dialysis in 2023.

His surgery in March was performed by Tatsuro Kawai (河合達郎), director of the Massachusetts General Hospital Clinical Transplant Immune Tolerance Center.

Before Slayman, only two pig organ transplants had been performed. Both patients received heart transplants and died several weeks after the surgery.

              So, the man who underwent the world's first pig kidney transplant died several months after the surgery. Yet he will forever be seen as a ray of hope for countless transplant patients around the world.

Note:

Mr. Tatsuo Kawai (河合達郎) was born in 1956.  He went to the United States in 1997 after serving as an associate professor at Tokyo Women's Medical University. He has been Professor of Surgery at Harvard Medical School since 2015.  He has worked as a transplant surgeon at Massachusetts General Hospital for over 20 years.