Surgeons implant new kind of engineered pig kidney
Surgeons successfully completed the fifth gene-edited pig organ transplant for an Alabama woman who needed a new kidney.
Towana Looney, 53, underwent the procedure after eight years of dialysis.
“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.”
Physician Robert Montgomery of NYU Langone Health performed the operation advancing formal studies of xenotransplantation.
The Hill reached out to NYU Langone Health for comment on the operation.
Experts believe the new method for transplants can save the lives of millions with preexisting health conditions or organ failures.
Looney’s case was unique. She donated one of her kidneys to her mother in 1999. Years later, her other kidney failed due to pregnancy complications, which put her life at risk.
After failing to find a match for a kidney transplant, she opted to undergo a pig kidney transplant through a 2023 FDA application for an emergency experiment despite the death of previous patients who underwent the procedure.
“You don’t know if it’s going to work or not until you try,” Looney told the AP.
She was released from the hospital 11 days after the surgery and is expected to return home to Alabama in three months as her recovery efforts remain positive.
-
Alabama Woman Receives Nation’s Third Pig Kidney Transplant
The patient, Towana Looney, was in better health than previous recipients, and her case could signal progress toward solving the organ-supply shortage.The New York Times - 13h -
An Alabama woman is doing well after the latest experimental pig kidney transplant
An Alabama woman received a pig kidney transplant last month and is free from dialysis for the first time in eight yearsABC News - 16h -
A Third Person Has Received a Transplant of a Genetically Engineered Pig Kidney
A 53-year-old woman was the third to undergo the transplant procedure. Researchers are hoping to monitor the long-term effects.Wired - 18h -
An Alabama woman is recovering well after a pig kidney transplant last month that freed her from eight years of dialysis
An Alabama woman is recovering well after a pig kidney transplant last month that freed her from eight years of dialysisABC News - 19h -
Alabama woman doing well after gene-edited pig kidney transplant
Towana Looney, a 53-year-old Alabama woman, is now free from years of dialysis after receiving an experimental pig kidney transplant last month.CBS News - 16h -
Why the first successful pig kidney transplant offers new hope for thousands awaiting donors
NYU Langone Health announced the groundbreaking transplant of a gene-edited pig kidney into a 53-year-old Alabama woman. Now free from dialysis, she is the only person in the world living with a ...CBS News - 17h -
Bird strike disables engine and forces jetliner to turn back in New York City
American Airlines flight with 196 people took off from LaGuardia airport before a bird strike forced it to land at JFK. A bird strike involving an American Airlines jetliner disabled one of the ...The Guardian - 4d -
Inside a one-of-a-kind home for teens and adults with autism
About one in every 36 children is diagnosed with a form of autism. A New York facility is seeing success in treating some of the most profound cases — and providing a welcome home for teens and ...CBS News - Dec. 7 -
Fighting in Ukraine is giving rise to a new kind of drone warfare: hit-to-kill intercepts
Yahoo News - Dec. 7
More from The Hill
-
Starbucks union votes to authorize strike ahead of bargaining
The Hill - 4h -
Less than half of Americans say opinion of Trump is favorable: Poll
The Hill - 5h -
Judge denies Eric Adams’s request to dismiss his bribery charge
The Hill - 5h -
Biden says there’s ‘no sense of danger’ from drones
The Hill - 6h -
Trump names Herschel Walker as ambassador to Bahamas
The Hill - 6h