After 130 days, the patient with the longest (so far) transplant of a pig kidney decided to have the transplant “explanted” and return to dialysis. Her surgeon explained that this should not be viewed as a failure of the basic innovation. The patient had the option to continue improvisations to keep the pig kidney alive, but decided that for her the risks had become too high.
The surgeon, Dr. Robert Montgomery said:
“All this takes time,” he said. “This game is going to be won by incremental improvements, singles and doubles, not trying to swing for the fences and get a home run.” (p. A24)
The pig kidney transplants follow the pattern of many other medical innovations, where on-the-fly adjustments, when the protocol allows them, lead to longer duration successes with fewer side effects. Emil Freireich found this with his chemo cocktails for childhood leukemia. Early human heart transplants also followed this pattern.
We should not allow early setbacks to push us to overregulate the incremental progress that can eventually leads to success.
My source is:
(Note: the online version of the article has the date April 11, 2025, and has the title “Pig Kidney Removed From Alabama Woman After Organ Rejection.”)