Doctors in New York City completed the first ever combination of a heart pump implant and a pig kidney transplant on a very ill patient.
Surgeons at NYU Langone Health performed the groundbreaking procedure on Lisa Pisano in two parts over nine days earlier this month, according to a statement released on Wednesday from NYU Langone.
Pisano, 54, from New Jersey, had heart failure and end-stage kidney disease. Her ongoing medical problems made her ineligible for a human heart and kidney transplant, the statement explained.
For her to get a mechanical heart pump, she needed to have the possibility of a kidney transplant because patients on dialysis with such pumps have a high risk of death, doctors pointed out.
By undergoing the two-part procedure, Pisano became the first patient with a mechanical heart pump to receive any kind of organ transplant, according to doctors. She is also the second person to have a gene-edited pig kidney transplant.
“All I want is the chance to have a better life,” Pisano expressed in a statement. “After I was disqualified for a human transplant, I found out that time was running out for me. My doctors thought I might be able to get a kidney from a genetically modified pig, so I talked about it with my family and my husband. He has been by my side through all of this and wishes for me to get better.”
On April 4, Pisano underwent the first procedure, the heart pump implant. Without the pump, doctors at NYU Langone said her life expectancy was only a matter of days or weeks. The pig kidney transplant took place on April 12 by a separate surgical team.
“The successful outcome would mean an improved quality of life and more time for Lisa to spend with her family,” stated Dr. Nader Moazami, head of the heart and lung transplantation division at NYU’s School of Medicine.
Around 104,000 people are currently waiting for a transplant, with over 89,000 of them in need of a kidney, according to NYU Langone Health.
Almost 808,000 individuals in the U.S. are dealing with end-stage kidney disease, yet only 27,000 underwent a transplant last year, as reported by NYU Langone.
