The Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network, part of the Health Resources & Services Administration, estimates 89,792 patients were on the waiting list for a kidney transplant in September 2024, and the CDC estimates more than 35.5 million people are living with chronic kidney disease in the U.S.
A team at Massachusetts General Hospital led by Harvard Medical School physician-scientists successfully transplanted a genetically edited pig kidney into a living person. The team performed the first surgery of its kind in the world, with the ultimate goal to alleviate critical organ shortages around the world.
Photo at right: 66-year-old New Hampshire resident Tim Andrews, is the fourth person in the world to receive a pig kidney and one of two people currently living with one.
