The 62-year-old man underwent the four-hour operation in March at Massachusetts General Hospital and left the hospital after two weeks.
Surgeons in Boston, Massachusetts, transplanted a kidney taken from a pig into the body of Suleiman, who was suffering from kidney failure.
This operation was considered a medical precedent and a solution to the problem of the chronic shortage of organ donors, which poses a dilemma for many patients around the world.
Causes of death
According to the American ABC News network, Massachusetts General Hospital confirmed that there is no indication that Suleiman's sudden death was due to a pig kidney transplant.
The hospital said in a statement, “The organ transplant team is deeply saddened by the sudden death of Mr. Rick Solomon. We have no indication that it was a result of his recent organ transplant.”
The hospital said that Suleiman had been suffering from type 2 diabetes and high blood pressure for many years at the time of his transplant.
He explained that the man had been undergoing dialysis for many years before receiving a kidney transplant from a deceased human donor in December 2018 at Massachusetts General Hospital.
However, his kidneys began to fail after about 5 years, and Suleiman had to resume dialysis in May 2023, which the hospital said affected his quality of life.
The kidney was provided again by a pig donor who had been genetically modified so that harmful pig genes were removed and certain human genes were added to improve their compatibility with humans, according to the hospital.
Kidney transplants from genetically modified pigs have previously been performed on a brain-dead and dying person, who lived for only two months. As for living people, Suleiman’s case was the first time.
