Surgeons at New York City-based NYU Langone Health implanted a kidney from a genetically engineered pig into a brain-dead patient for the second time on Nov. 22.
NYU Langone completed the first such procedure in October. Both surgeries were led by Robert Montgomery, MD, chair of the department of surgery and director of the NYU Langone Transplant Institute, the health system said Dec. 13.
"We have been able to replicate the results from the first transformative procedure to demonstrate the continued promise that these genetically engineered organs could be a renewable source of organs to the many people around the world awaiting a life-saving gift," Dr. Montgomery said. "There is much more work to do before we begin living human trials, but our preliminary findings give us hope."
Like the first procedure, the kidney was procured from a pig genetically modified to grow an organ unlikely to be rejected by the human body. It was attached to blood vessels in the upper leg outside the abdomen of a deceased donor maintained on a ventilator. During a 54-hour observation period, the organ produced urine and creatine — indicators of a normal, functioning kidney — with no signs of rejection.
"With additional study and replication, this could be the path forward to saving many thousands of lives each year," Dr. Montgomery said.