He survived with a pig kidney for nine months
A patient in the United States successfully lived for nine months with a genetically modified pig kidney, marking a significant milestone in xenotransplantation. The procedure served as a temporary bridge to keep the patient off dialysis while awaiting a human donor organ.
Why it matters
Xenotransplantation offers a potential solution to the global shortage of human organs available for life-saving transplants.
A man was given a genetically-modified pig kidney that enabled him to stay off dialysis for nine months in a world first.
Doctors said the animal organ was used as a temporary “bridge” while the man waited for a transplant from a human donor.
Tim Andrews, who had end-stage kidney disease, was 66 when he received the pig kidney in the United States in January 2025.
He lived successfully with the genetically-edited organ for 271 days before moving to short-term dialysis and receiving a donor human kidney.
It is the longest dialysis-free survival after a pig kidney transplant in a living human and the first transition from pig-to-human kidney transplantation, doctors have said.
The team, from Mass General Brigham academic centres and hospitals in the US, published their findings in The Lancet medical journal.
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