A woman who received a pig kidney transplant plus a heart pump has died
A woman who received a pig kidney transplant has died
WASHINGTON (AP) — A woman who received a pig kidney transplant -- along with an implanted device to keep her heart beating – has died, her surgeon announced Tuesday.
Lisa Pisano was near death from kidney and heart failure when surgeons at NYU Langone Health performed the dramatic pair of surgeries in April. The New Jersey woman initially seemed to be recovering well but about 47 days later, doctors had to remove the pig kidney and put Pisano back on dialysis after the organ was damaged by her heart medications.
Despite the dialysis and implanted heart pump, Pisano eventually entered hospice care and died Sunday, NYU Langone transplant surgeon Dr. Robert Montgomery said in a statement.
Montgomery praised Pisano’s bravery for attempting the latest pig organ-to-human experiment, what’s called xenotransplantation. The research aims to one day shore up the dire shortage of transplantable organs.
