A patient with a pig kidney injury is discharged from hospital in the United States of America

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The world's first patient with a transplanted pig kidney was discharged from hospital after about three weeks. The successful transplant not only represents a new beginning for him, but also provides hope for many other people waiting for a kidney transplant.

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The world's first patient to have a transplanted pig kidney was able to leave hospital approximately three weeks after the operation. Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston announced on X (formerly Twitter) on Wednesday (local time) that Rick Solomon is recovering well and will now continue his recovery at home with his family.

The 62-year-old said, according to what the doctors said: “I have longed for this moment for many years, to be able to leave the hospital with one of the best health reports I have received in a long time.” “Now it's become a reality.” This day not only means a new beginning for him, but also for many other people who have been waiting for a kidney transplant.

According to the hospital, the man, who suffers from life-threatening kidney disease, had the genetically modified organ transplanted on March 16.

Pigs are well suited as donors

The so-called organ transplantation has been researched for a long time. Pigs are particularly suitable as donors because their metabolism is similar to that of humans. In order to use such organs, the genetic makeup of the donor animals must be changed, among other things. Otherwise, transmission to humans may result in an immediate rejection reaction.

The New York Times, quoting one of the doctors, wrote that signs of rejection appeared on the 62-year-old man also on the eighth day after the operation. The immune reaction was suppressed with medications. “It was a roller coaster ride the first week,” the doctor said. However, the man's reaction to the treatment was the same as patients who received organs from human donors.

Recently, pig hearts were transplanted as replacement organs into two seriously ill patients at University Hospital in Baltimore, Maryland. They both died weeks after the operation. (dpa/f)

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