Alabama woman who is the only living recipient of pig organ transplant passed a milestone on Saturday when he became the longest living person with a functioning pig organ.
Towana Looney, 53, is still healthy and full of energy, reaching a record 61 days with her pig kidney on Saturday.
“She's a great woman,” Looney told The Associated Press. “It's a new thing in life.”
Only four other Americans have received organ transplants from genetically modified pigs — two received hearts and two received kidneys — but none of them lived more than a month. two.
WOMAN GETS PIG KIDNEY TRANSPLANT, LEFT HOSPITAL THE SAME DAY: 'SECOND CHANCE'
Towana Looney, who received a pig kidney transplant in November 2024, shares details about her recovery with Dr. Jeffrey Stern at NYU Langone Health in New York, Friday, January 24, 2025. (AP)
“If you saw him on the street, you wouldn't know he's the only person in the world walking around with a working pig organ inside,” said Dr. Robert Montgomery of NYU Langone Health, who led Looney's installation.
Montgomery said Looney's kidney function was “absolutely normal.” He is temporarily staying in New York for post-transplant tests, but doctors hope he can return home. Gadsden, Alabamafor about a month.
“We're hoping that this will continue to work and work well, you know, for a long time,” Montgomery said.
Scientists are genetically modifying pigs so their organs look like humans to support the severe shortage of human organs that can be used for organ transplants.
More than 100,000 people are on the US transplant list. Most of these people need a kidney, and thousands die while waiting.
The Food and Drug Administration only allows the transplantation of pig organs in special cases for people who have failed other methods.
Dr. Tatsuo Kawai of Massachusetts General Hospital, who led the world's first pig kidney transplant last year and worked with another pig developer, eGenesis, said how Looney works is “a very important experience. “
Towana Looney sits down for the NYU Langone Health press conference on Tuesday, December 17, 2024. (Fox News)
Looney was healthier than people who received a pig organ, according to Kawai, who said his progress will help inform doctors about future trials.
“We have to learn from others,” he said.
Looney donated a kidney to his mother in 1999 and later had complications from a high blood pressure pregnancy. it destroyed his remaining kidneywhich ultimately failed, which is rare among living donors.
He spent eight years on dialysis before doctors decided he had no chance of receiving a transplant, as he had extremely high levels of antibodies that were in a rare state of attack. someone else's kidney.
Looney, looking for an alternative, wanted to try the pig organ experiment. No one knew how it would work in someone who was “very sensitive” to overactive antibodies.
Montgomery's team has closely monitored Looney's recovery with blood tests and other measurements since the Nov. 25 surgery. About three weeks after implantation, subtle signs of rejection were noted. They knew how to look for these signs because of an experiment in 2023 when a pig's kidney worked for 61 days inside a dead man whose body was given for research.
MASSACHUSETTS MAN, RECEPTIONIST OF CHANGING THE FIRST PIG, HAS BEEN TAKEN OFF THE AIRCRAFT.
Outside the emergency room door at NYU Langone Health on April 6, 2020, in New York City. (Noam Galai/Getty Images)
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Montgomery said his team successfully treated Looney and there have been no signs of rejection since.
It is impossible to predict how long Looney's new kidney will work. But if it failed, he could get dialysis again.
“The reality is we don't know exactly what the next hurdles are because this is the first time we've been here,” Montgomery said. “We will have to continue to monitor him.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.