An Alabama woman is recovering well after a last month that freed her from eight years of dialysis, the latest effort to save human lives with animal organs.
Towana Looney is the given a B次元官网网址� and notably, she isnB次元官网网址檛 as sick as who died within of receiving a pig kidney or heart.
B次元官网网址淚tB次元官网网址檚 like a new beginning,B次元官网网址� Looney, 53, told The Associated Press. Right away, B次元官网网址渢he energy I had was amazing. To have a working kidney B次元官网网址� and to feel it B次元官网网址� is unbelievable.B次元官网网址�
LooneyB次元官网网址檚 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.
B次元官网网址淭o see hope restored to her and her family is extraordinary,B次元官网网址� said Dr. Jayme Locke, LooneyB次元官网网址檚 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 failed. ItB次元官网网址檚 incredibly rare for living donors to develop kidney failure although those who do are given extra priority on the transplant list.
But Looney couldnB次元官网网址檛 get a match B次元官网网址� she had developed antibodies abnormally primed to attack another human kidney. Tests showed sheB次元官网网址檇 reject every kidney donors have offered.
Then Looney heard about pig kidney research at t and told Locke, at the time a UAB transplant surgeon, sheB次元官网网址檇 like to try one. In April 2023, Locke filed an FDA application seeking an emergency experiment, under rules for people like Looney who are out of options.
The FDA didnB次元官网网址檛 agree right away. Instead, the worldB次元官网网址檚 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. NYUB次元官网网址檚 patient had heart complications that damaged her pig kidney, forcing its removal, and she later died.
Those disappointing outcomes didnB次元官网网址檛 dissuade Looney, who was starting to feel worse on dialysis but, Locke said, hadnB次元官网网址檛 developed heart disease or other complications. The FDA eventually allowed her transplant at NYU, where Locke collaborated with Montgomery.
Even if her new organ fails, doctors can learn from it, Looney told the AP: B次元官网网址淵ou donB次元官网网址檛 know if itB次元官网网址檚 going to work or not until you try.B次元官网网址�
Blacksburg, Virginia-based Revivicor provided LooneyB次元官网网址檚 new kidney from a pig with 10 gene alterations. Moments after Montgomery sewed it into place, the kidney turned a healthy pink and began producing urine.
Looney was initially discharged on Dec. 6, wearing monitors to track her blood pressure, heart rate and other bodily functions and returning to the hospital for daily checkups before her medication readmission. Doctors scrutinize her bloodwork and other tests, comparing them to prior research in animals and in hopes of spotting an early warning if problems crop up.
B次元官网网址淎 lot of what weB次元官网网址檙e seeing, weB次元官网网址檙e seeing for the first time,B次元官网网址� Montgomery said.
During a visit last week with Locke, who now works for the federal government, Looney hugged her longtime doctor, saying, B次元官网网址淭hank you for not giving up on me.B次元官网网址�
B次元官网网址淣ever,B次元官网网址� Locke responded.
