New Jersey woman receives pig kidney along with mechanical heart pump

The 54-year-old had heart and kidney failure and didn’t qualify for a traditional transplant, so an alternative procedure was devised

Doctors have transplanted a pig kidney into a New Jersey woman who was near death, part of a dramatic pair of surgeries that also stabilized her failing heart.

Lisa Pisano’s combination of heart and kidney failure left her too sick to qualify for a traditional transplant, and out of options. Then doctors at NYU Langone Health devised a novel one-two punch: implant a mechanical pump to keep her heart beating and days later transplant a kidney from a genetically modified pig.