Massachusetts General Hospital announced on the 21st that its medical experts have successfully performed a special transplant surgery on a male patient with end-stage kidney disease in the United States, transplanting a genetically edited pig kidney into his body. This is the world's first case. This man has recovered well after surgery and is expected to be discharged soon. It is reported that experts from the transplant center of the hospital performed this 4-hour surgery on the 16th. The patient who received a pig kidney transplant is Richard Sleiman, now 62 years old. Sleiman has been suffering from type 2 diabetes and hypertension for many years, and had long-term dialysis. He underwent a kidney transplant surgery at the hospital in December 2018, but a few years later his transplanted kidney showed signs of failure and had to resume dialysis in May 2023. Later, Sleiman developed complications related to vascular pathways, and doctors suggested that he undergo a pig kidney transplant. The US Food and Drug Administration approved this transplant surgery based on the "sympathetic use" rule. The hospital stated that the pig kidney used in this transplant surgery underwent 69 genome edits, including knocking out genes that cause human rejection reactions and adding some human genes to improve compatibility between animal organs and the human body. In addition, the research team inactivated the retroviral genes in pigs to prevent related viruses from affecting transplant recipients. The medical experts at the hospital expressed the hope that this transplantation plan can bring hope to millions of kidney failure patients worldwide. According to data from the United States Organ Sharing Network, a non-profit organization, there are over 100000 people waiting for organ transplants in the United States, with an average of 17 deaths per day while waiting for organs. In response to the shortage of human organ supply, researchers have long been committed to researching xenograft organ transplantation. Pigs are considered one of the best donors for xenotransplantation due to their organ tissue structure, physiological functions, and size similar to human organs. However, there are still many difficulties and risks that need to be overcome through scientific research and clinical trials in xenotransplantation. The United States had previously performed two live human pig heart transplant surgeries, but both patients died within a few months after the surgery. Last July, a team from New York University's Langon Medical Center performed a pig kidney transplant surgery on a 57 year old male who had been diagnosed with brain death. (Lai Xin She)