Lisa Pisano, the woman who received the world’s first heart pump and pig kidney combined transplant passed away Sunday at the age of 54, CBS News reported.
Pisano, a grandmother who underwent surgeries involving a mechanical heart pump and a gene-edited pig kidney transplant, underwent the procedures at the NYU Langone Transplant Institute, according to CBS News. Pisano had been treated for heart and kidney failure, conditions that made her ineligible for a human transplant, according to the outlet.
Woman who received pig kidney transplant in April dies https://t.co/WbB6WSdoPt
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The surgeries included the April 4 installation of a Left Ventricular Assist Device (LVAD), followed by the April 12 operation of pig kidney transplant, CBS News reported. Complications arose, however, leading to the removal of the pig kidney 47 days later due to it interfering with her blood flow, according to the outlet. Despite the setback, Dr. Robert Montgomery, the director of the NYU Langone Transplant Institute, praised Pisano’s contributions to medical science. (RELATED: Second Pig Heart Transplant Recipient Dies)
“Her legacy as a pioneer will live on and she will forever be remembered for her courage and good nature,” Montgomery said in a statement, CBS News reported.
Pisano, suffering from end-stage kidney disease and undergoing routine dialysis, said in an interview the procedures gave her a chance to regain some normalcy.
“I was pretty much done,” Pisano told CBS News chief medical correspondent Dr. Jon LaPook in an April interview. “I couldn’t go up the stairs. I couldn’t drive. I couldn’t play with my grandkids. So when this opportunity came to me I was taking it.”
ALBERETO, ITALY – MAY 22: Pigs that survived the flood lay in a pigsty at farm on May 22, 2023 in Albereto, Italy. Fifteen people have died and forty thousands have been evacuated from their homes after torrential rain wreaked mayhem in the northern Italian region of Emilia-Romagna, causing severe flooding and landslides. (Photo by Emanuele Cremaschi/Getty Images)
The United States is reportedly experiencing a critical organ shortage, with over 104,000 people on the transplant waiting list — more than 80% of them in need of a kidney. Pisano’s case marks only the second instance of a gene-edited pig kidney transplant in a living person, following an initial experiment at Massachusetts General Hospital, the outlet noted.
The genetically modified pig kidney was designed to avoid immediate rejection by the human body, a frequent problem in cross-species transplants. The modification involved knocking out a gene responsible for producing alpha-gal sugar, which usually triggers an immediate immune response, CBS News reported.
Montgomery emphasized Pisano’s bravery in participating in these experimental procedures offers hope for the future of organ transplants.
“Lisa helped bring us closer to realizing a future where someone does not have to die for another person to live,” Montgomery said, according to CBS News.
