Scientists put a pig kidney inside a man and it worked for 9 months — is this the future of organ transplants?

• A genetically modified pig kidney functioned inside a 66-year-old US man for 271 days, the longest recorded time for a pig kidney to work in a human.

• Kidney xenotransplantation uses specially modified pig organs designed to reduce rejection and make them safer for humans.

• The breakthrough could help address the global shortage of donor kidneys, with more than 90,000 people in the US currently waiting for a transplant.

• Experts say the technology still needs more research, but it could one day help patients avoid years of dialysis while waiting for human donors.

Imagine waiting for a kidney transplant and instead of getting an organ from another human, doctors offer you a kidney from a pig.

It sounds like something from a science-fiction movie, but scientists have been working on exactly this, and one US man has just shown how far the technology has come.

A genetically modified pig kidney worked inside 66-year-old Tim Andrews for 271 days, setting a new record for the longest time a pig kidney has successfully functioned inside a human body.

The transplant gave Andrews something many kidney patients desperately want — a break from dialysis.

Andrews had developed end-stage kidney disease linked to type 2 diabetes and received the experimental pig kidney transplant at Massachusetts General Hospital in January 2025 while waiting for a human donor kidney.

Before the transplant, his condition was becoming difficult to manage.

“I had a little bit of a shortage of time, it becomes very depressing,” Andrews said, explaining what life was like before receiving the pig kidney.

But the experimental procedure gave him something he had been missing.

“Hope is the biggest thing, the chance to be free from the [dialysis] machine and live your life,” he said.

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The procedure is called kidney xenotransplantation (pronounced zee-no-trans-plan-TAY-shin).

It involves transplanting a kidney from a genetically modified pig into a human recipient.

The idea behind it is simple: there are far more people who need kidney transplants than there are available human donor kidneys.

In the United States alone, more than 90,000 people are waiting for kidney transplants, according to transplant data.

Because kidneys from pigs are similar in size and perform many of the same functions as human kidneys, scientists believe they could become another source of organs in the future.

A functioning kidney helps the body:

• Remove waste products and extra fluid

• Control blood pressure

• Balance minerals and vitamins

Researchers believe a successful pig kidney could potentially last for decades, similar to a human donor kidney, although this is still being studied.

Because the human immune system sees animal organs as foreign objects and attacks them.

That is why scientists genetically modify the pigs before they are born.

These special pigs are raised in highly controlled environments, and their organs are changed to make them more compatible with humans.

The genetic changes are designed to:

• Remove pig genes that trigger strong human immune reactions

• Add human genes that help the organ avoid rejection

• Reduce the risk of viruses naturally found in pigs affecting humans

Basically, scientists are trying to make the pig kidney look less like an outsider to the human body.

The kidney started working immediately after the transplant.

For nine months, it helped Andrews avoid dialysis while he waited for a permanent human donor kidney.

However, the organ eventually failed.

Doctors noticed early signs of rejection, but they were able to control the reaction by adjusting his medication.

After about six months, the kidney’s blood vessels started developing problems. The organ became inflamed and later stopped working.

Interestingly, doctors did not find signs that antibodies were attacking the kidney, meaning the exact reason for the failure is still unclear.

The pig kidney was removed in October 2025.

Andrews spent another 82 days on dialysis before receiving a human donor kidney in January 2026. Doctors say that kidney is currently working well.

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Not yet.

Kidney xenotransplantation is still considered an experimental treatment and has only been used in very limited cases.

In 2025, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved the first human clinical trials for the procedure, allowing researchers to properly test whether it is safe and effective.

Scientists say the goal is not necessarily to replace human kidney donations completely, but to create another option for people who have no living donor or who may wait years for a transplant.

Dr Leonardo Riella from the Mass General Brigham Centre for Transplantation Sciences said the shortage of human organs remains a major challenge.

“We are working really hard to bring hope and we truly feel that xenotransplantation can be an alternative for patients who don’t have a living donor,” he said.

For now, Andrews’ case shows both sides of the technology — the excitement of a future where animal organs can save human lives, and the reality that scientists still have important problems to solve.

But for kidney patients spending years attached to dialysis machines while waiting for a donor, even a temporary solution could mean one important thing: more time, and more hope.