Grandmother without long to live gets breakthrough pig kidney transplant

Groundbreaking combined surgeries are giving a grandmother from New Jersey a new lease on life.

On Wednesday, doctors from NYU Langone detailed the complex procedures, one of which involved a pig kidney transplant.

The innovative technology could give hope to the thousands of people currently waiting on organ donor lists.

Lisa Pisano, 54, didn’t have long to live because of a number of severe health conditions that included heart failure, diabetes and end-stage kidney failure that required ongoing dialysis. Because of the number of complications, she was not a candidate for existing interventions.

So, surgeons at NYU proposed a cutting-edge treatment option: combined surgeries that would give Pisano a mechanical heart and a transplanted pig kidney.

Speaking at a press conference on Wednesday, Pisano’s team of doctors delivered amazing news: The interventions had been a success.

The mechanical heart surgery, which implants a left ventricular assist device into the chest in order to help it pump, was performed first by Dr. Nader Moazami on April 4. This surgery was followed by a xenotransplant on April 12 — using a genetically modified pig kidney to replace Pisano’s own failing kidney. That surgery was performed by Dr. Robert Montgomery, who performed the world’s first gene-edited pig-to-human organ transplant in September 2021.

In March, Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston made headlines for a successful pig kidney transplant in a 62-year-old man who was released from the hospital with a clean bill of health early this month.

What sets Pisano’s case apart is the fact that doctors were able to address two potentially fatal conditions — heart failure and kidney failure — at the same time. This procedure was also different because the pig kidney used only had a single genetic modification.

“By using pigs with a single genetic modification, we can better understand the role one key stable change in the genome can have in making xenotransplantation a viable alternative,” Montgomery, who is the director of NYU Langone’s Transplant Institute, said in a press release. “Since these pigs can be bred and do not require cloning like more-complex gene edits, this is a sustainable, scalable solution to the organ shortage. If we want to start saving more lives quickly, using fewer modifications and medications will be the answer.”

An incredible need, with little supply

Since organ transplants began in the 1950s, the list for those in need has grown exponentially. More than 100,000 people are currently on the waiting list for an organ, and 17 people die each day waiting for an organ transplant. The greatest need is for kidneys — with 89,101 people waiting for an organ and fewer than 27,000 transplants happening each year due to the scarcity of donors.

With the introduction of xenotransplantation — using animal organs for transplants — that list could be cut dramatically, potentially saving thousands of lives.

Last year, Montgomery was also involved in a medical breakthrough when a pig kidney worked for a record 61 days in a brain-dead man, Maurice “Mo” Miller. (After 61 days, the pig kidney was removed and the man’s body was returned to his family for cremation.) The heroic donation paved the way for transplants in living patients this year — and has set the stage to potentially save thousands of lives in the future.

Similar trials of transplanting pig kidneys into brain-dead individuals have also been successful at the University of Alabama at Birmingham.

Pisano’s complex intervention marks the sixth xenotransplant performed by Montgomery since 2021.

‘Eternally grateful for what you’ve done’

On Wednesday, speaking from her hospital bed, recipient Pisano expressed her gratitude to the team of doctors and nurses who have given her a new lease on life.

“I feel the best I’ve felt in a long time — and I can’t thank anybody enough for that,” she said.

The mother and grandmother went on to say that although it was a difficult decision, she felt she had to give it a shot because, “worst case scenario, if it doesn’t work, it might work for the next person.”

Pisano’s husband, Todd, who met his wife in high school in 1985, was similarly moved, saying he was “extremely thankful” to the doctors who performed the surgery.

“I don’t want to speak for my whole family, but I think I can, when I say that we are eternally grateful for what you’ve done,” Todd said, speaking to the doctors, during the press conference. He went on to add that he hoped more people would be able to benefit from receiving a pig kidney in the future.

Pisano’s daughter, Brittany Harvill, described her mother as being “independent” and “very strong,” and said her illnesses had put a damper on that. She was also hopeful that the transplant would allow her to come home and hang out again with her grandchildren.

“I saw her for the first time after the surgery — and even this morning — and she looks like the best she’s looked and sounds in years,” Harvill said.

Pig kidney transplants are far from being a routine surgery. The Food and Drug Administration grants special “compassionate use” cases in circumstances where other approved lifesaving measures have been exhausted and an experimental treatment or drug may be able to help.

Although Pisano still has a long road of recovery ahead, doctors said that the first 24 hours after surgery are often critical to see whether a patient’s body will reject the donated organ — and, in this case, Pisano has shown no signs of rejection.