Towana Looney, a 53-year-old woman from Alabama, has successfully received a pig kidney transplant, marking a significant milestone in xenotransplantation. This groundbreaking procedure has freed her from eight years of dialysis.
An Alabama woman received a pig kidney transplant last month and is free from dialysis for the first time in eight years. Pig kidney recipient Towana Looney stands with transplant surgeons Dr. Jayme Locke, left, now of the U.S. Health Resources & Services Administration and Dr. Robert Montgomery of NYU Langone Health , center, on Dec. 10, 2024, at NYU Langone Health , in New York City.
(AP Photo/Shelby Lum) last month that freed her from eight years of dialysis, the latest effort to save human lives with animal organs. “It’s like a new beginning,” Looney, 53, told The Associated Press. Right away, “the energy I had was amazing. To have a working kidney — and to feel it — is unbelievable.” Looney’s surgery marks an important step as scientists get ready for formal studies of xenotransplantation expected to begin next year, said Dr. Robert Montgomery of NYU Langone Health, who led the highly experimental procedure. Looney is recuperating well after her transplant, which was announced Tuesday. She was discharged from the hospital just 11 days after surgery to continue recovery in a nearby apartment although temporarily readmitted this week while her medications are adjusted. Doctors expect her to return home to Alabama in three months. If the pig kidney were to fail, she could begin dialysis again. “To see hope restored to her and her family is extraordinary,” said Dr. Jayme Locke, Looney's original surgeon who secured Food and Drug Administration permission for the Nov. 25 transplant. More than 100,000 people are on the U.S. transplant list, most who need a kidney. Thousands die waiting and many more who need a transplant never qualify. Now, searching for an alternate supply, scientists are genetically altering pigs so their organs are more humanlike. Looney donated a kidney to her mother in 1999. Later a complication during pregnancy caused high blood pressure that damaged her remaining kidney, which eventually faile
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Alabama Woman Makes History with Successful Pig Kidney TransplantTowana Looney, a 53-year-old woman from Alabama, has become the fifth American to receive a gene-edited pig kidney transplant, marking a significant milestone in xenotransplantation research. Looney's surgery, conducted at NYU Langone Health, has been hailed as a success, with the patient recovering well and experiencing a renewed sense of hope. This groundbreaking procedure holds immense promise for addressing the critical shortage of human organs for transplantation.
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