Actually... Not A "First". But I Applaud It, Anyway.

In October of 2021, we covered. . . the first known success here. That patient lived for three days.

The claim out of Boston is that the patient is "continually improving" -- he's now at six days, and may be discharged by next week. I certainly hope so, and to be clear, I applaud any advance here, given my prior experiences in the arena. Access to transplants is an extremely vexing supply problem for people of color, and they are a high burden patient population for kidney disease and ultimately failures.

Here's the latest -- but technically not the. . . "first" -- from the NYT.

. . .Surgeons in Boston have transplanted a kidney from a genetically engineered pig into an ailing 62-year-old Black man, the first procedure of its kind. If successful, the breakthrough offers hope to hundreds of thousands of Americans whose kidneys have failed. . . .

A new source of kidneys “could solve an intractable problem in the field — the inadequate access of minority patients to kidney transplants,” said Dr. Winfred Williams, associate chief of the nephrology division at Mass General and the patient’s primary kidney doctor. . . .

Now you know -- but the graphic at right doesn't -- strictly speaking -- relate to the story. Onward, smiling -- just the same.

नमस्ते