Pig kidney transplanted into man at Mass General Hospital (Cambridge: organic, living)

[redplum33]

A genetically engineered pig. This is the first time this has ever happened. Crazy.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hgLpV8L9wxI

[OutdoorLover]

Originally Posted by redplum33

A genetically engineered pig. This is the first time this has ever happened. Crazy.

Thanks for sharing - pretty amazing work, and you have to love, on a human level, the way the doctor choked up while speaking for the team.

Further details from a news release from Mass General:

"Today, Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH), a founding member of the Mass General Brigham health care system, announced the world’s first successful transplant of a genetically-edited pig (porcine) kidney into a 62-year-old man living with end-stage kidney disease (ESKD).
:
a genetically-edited pig kidney with 69 genomic edits was successfully transplanted into a living patient.
:
The pig kidney was provided by eGenesis of Cambridge, Mass., from a pig donor that was genetically-edited using CRISPR-Cas9 technology to remove harmful pig genes and add certain human genes to improve its compatibility with humans. Additionally, scientists inactivated porcine endogenous retroviruses in the pig donor to eliminate any risk of infection in humans.
:
This successful procedure in a living recipient is a historic milestone in the emerging field of xenotransplantation – the transplantation of organs or tissues from one species to another – as a potential solution to the worldwide organ shortage."

https://www.massgeneral.org/news/pre...ving-recipient

[lrfox]

This is absolutely fascinating stuff.

[heavymind]

the world’s first successful transplant of a genetically-edited pig (porcine) kidney into a 62-year-old man living with end-stage kidney disease

WTF? Wouldn't it be easier to just make a new man in the usual, organic method?

Not trying to sound harsh or cruel, but how crucial or important is this individual's life to go messing around with nature's chemistry? We have enough people as it is.

[2sleepy]

Originally Posted by heavymind

WTF? Wouldn't it be easier to just make a new man in the usual, organic method?

Not trying to sound harsh or cruel, but how crucial or important is this individual's life to go messing around with nature's chemistry? We have enough people as it is.

It does sound harsh and cruel.

[msRB311]

He does have a point. Science has allowed many things to happen with human life that perhaps the planet wasn't ready for. Look at the amount of people living longer and the amount of people who have IVF to create more life because they couldn't on their own or decided at 50 to get pregnant. As fascinating as it all is much if it is having repercussions on the planet but no one cares. They just care about themselves or their career in that moment. The only saving grace might be that folks are having less kids today but the earth is without a doubt overpopulated

I personally would not want a pigs kidney but to each their own. Apparently humans get to make these kinds of decisions today. Feels like Frankenstein.

I'm all for saving someone's life especially if they're a kid who hasn't lived but some of these life saving efforts and extending life and bringing in new human life are getting nuts.

[BOORGONG]

Is this kosher?

Any chance this operation would have happened at Beth Israel Deaconess Hospital?

[OutdoorLover]

Originally Posted by heavymind

WTF? Wouldn't it be easier to just make a new man in the usual, organic method?

Not trying to sound harsh or cruel, but how crucial or important is this individual's life to go messing around with nature's chemistry? We have enough people as it is.

I hope you'll stick to your principles of no medical intervention needed if your life is in danger as well. Plenty of other people out there, no need to save one.

[heavymind]

Originally Posted by OutdoorLover

I hope you'll stick to your principles of no medical intervention needed if your life is in danger as well. Plenty of other people out there, no need to save one.

That's exactly my point. The cost and preparation for this procedure must have been enormous. And all for a 62 year old man who was already in poor health (diabetes & hypertension) in addition to the kidney failure. Maybe he's just being used as a guinea pig (pun intended), to see what happens.

Medical intervention is one thing, but mutating the natural order of things and playing Frankenstein with animals who have no say in the matter is entirely another. It would benefit humanity as a whole to let sickly people pass away once their time is up, rather than being kept propped up on a plethora of 'miracle drugs' and now mutated organs from other species. There's too damn many of us as it is.

Also from the article is this: "the nation’s first penile transplant, performed at MGH in 2016." Whoa! It doesn't elaborate on the details, but I'm sure there's a joke in there about the patient requesting a horse donor for the transplant. LOL

[msRB311]

I already saw posts on reddit about this saying how will this affect the Muslim community.