Pig kidney works in US patient for record 271 days

A pig kidney kept Tim Andrews off dialysis for 271 days, giving him the longest recorded period of support from an animal organ while he waited for a human transplant.

Doctors at Mass General Brigham said the case shows that pig organs could serve as a bridge for patients who need a transplant but face long waits. The kidney eventually failed and doctors removed it. Andrews then underwent a short period of dialysis before receiving a donor kidney.

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I had a little bit of a shortage of time… it becomes very depressing.

Andrews said the transplant spared him months of hospital visits for blood filtering. “I had a little bit of a shortage of time… it becomes very depressing,” he said. He described the pig organ as “hope” and “the light at the end of the tunnel,” adding that freedom from the dialysis machine offered a chance to live normally.

Doctors and scientists are exploring xenotransplantation because the supply of human organs falls far short of demand. About 100,000 people in the United States are waiting for a kidney, while roughly 25,000 transplants take place each year. More than 7,000 people are on the kidney transplant list in the United Kingdom. Andrews had been told he might wait seven years, while people on dialysis live an average of five years.

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Hope is the biggest thing, the chance to be free from the machine and live your life.