First living recipient of pig kidney dies months after transplant

A 62-year-old man has died months after receiving a genetically edited pig kidney transplant, which was hailed as a medical achievement. The recipient, Rick Slayman, had undergone the surgery at Massachusetts General in March. The hospital stated that there is no indication that his death was related to the transplant. Slayman, a manager with the Massachusetts Department of Transportation, had been diagnosed with end-stage kidney disease. He received a human kidney transplant in 2018 but experienced kidney failure, leading to the pig kidney transplant. This surgery was seen as a significant step in xenotransplantation.