Towana Looney, a 53-year-old woman, received a pig kidney transplant, ending her eight years of dialysis. This groundbreaking surgery is considered a significant step towards using animal organs for human transplantation. Doctors expect Looney to make a full recovery and return home in three months. This historic procedure marks an important step in xenotransplantation research, with formal studies expected to begin next year.
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. pig kidney transplant
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. 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.
The FDA didn’t agree right away. Instead, the world’s first gene-edited pig kidney transplants went to two sicker patients last spring, at Massachusetts General Hospital and NYU. Both also had serious heart disease. The Boston patient recovered enough to spend about a month at home before dying of sudden cardiac arrest deemed unrelated to the pig kidney. NYU’s patient had heart complications that damaged her pig kidney, forcing its removal, and she later died.
Xenotransplantation Pig Kidney Transplant Medical Breakthrough Organ Donation Dialysis
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