First-Ever Pig Kidney and Heart Pump Transplant Patient Dies 47 Days After Surgery

Melissa Mattola-Kiatos, RN, nursing practice specialist, removes the pig kidney from its box to prepare for transplantation at Massachusetts General Hospital, in Boston, Mass., on March 16, 2024. Richard “Rick” Slayman, the first recipient of a genetically modified pig kidney transplant, has died nearly two months after he underwent the procedure, his family and the hospital that performed the surgery said on May 11, 2024. Massachusetts General Hospital via AP

A grandmother who became the first person ever to receive both a mechanical heart pump and a gene-edited pig kidney has died 47 days after surgery, according to health officials who performed the surgeries.

Lisa Pisano, 54, was on the verge of death from kidney and heart failure when she was fitted by surgeons at NYU Langone Health with a heart pump—called a left ventricular assist device or LVAD—on April 4.