It’s considered one of the biggest medical breakthroughs in decades in organ transplant surgery. Doctors at NYU Langone Health announced Thursday the successful completion of a cross-species kidney transplant. 

Dr. Robert Montgomery and his surgical team at NYU Lagone Transplant Institute embarked on a new frontier in organ transplant surgery for those in need of a lifesaving kidney. 

Surgeons used a kidney from a genetically modified pig and successfully transplanted it into the body of a clinically deceased person. 

Doctors say the connected modified pig kidney showed no evidence of being rejected by the human recipient and functioned normally during the two days and a half it was being monitored by the medical team. 

The hospital is now moving forward to further study this landmark surgery. According to the National Kidney Foundation, 12 people die every day in the United States waiting for a kidney. 

Montgomery estimates that successful kidney transplants between live human recipients and genetically altered pigs could take place within the next two years.