An Alabama woman who is also the second person in history to receive a pig kidney transplant is currently surviving for over , according to a recent report. Towana Looney received a pig kidney transplant at NYU Langone Health in November 2024, a pioneering surgery she received after waiting for seven years.
Because she had a complex medical condition for which no suitable human donor existed, doctors hope their gene-edited pig kidneys will do the nephrotic work of effectively filtering waste from her blood.
The process of using animals as donors for human organs is known as xenotransplantation, and can often provide patients who need organs with hope at a time when there is a dire donor shortage stretching back decades. Unfortunately, xenotransplantation is a risky process because of the chance of tissue rejection. For example, a high profile pig heart transplantation from 2023 ended in tragedy: Lawrence Faucette, who received his pig heart after no suitable human donor could be found for him, survived for only a little more than a week after his initially successful surgery.
According to the U.S. Health Resources and Services Administration, as of September 2024 there were roughly 103,000 Americans on a waiting list for organs, with a new patient being added roughly every eight minutes. Xenotransplantation, often with genetic modification, is viewed by many scientists as a hopeful alternative to bridge that gap, particularly with pig hearts and pig kidneys. Those organs have already been tested in monkeys, with four humans receiving these experimental surgeries — two for hearts, two for kidneys.
Looney, at least, seems optimistic that the experiment for her is going to be a complete success.
“I’m superwoman,” Looney told The Associated Press. The physician who led her surgery, Dr. Robert Montgomery, added that “if you saw her on the street, you would have no idea that she’s the only person in the world walking around with a pig organ inside them that’s functioning.”
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