NEW YORK (AP) — Alabama woman is recovering well from serious injury pig kidney transplant Last month, she was released from dialysis after eight years. This is the latest effort to use animal organs to save human lives.
Twana Rooney is fifth american given Gene-edited pig organs — and, remarkably, she’s not that sick previous recipient The person who died inside 2 months Receiving a pig’s kidney or heart.
“It’s like a new beginning,” Rooney, 53, told The Associated Press. Immediately, she said, “My energy was amazing. It’s incredible that my kidneys are working and that I can feel it.”
Twana Rooney, a pig kidney recipient, is visited by Dr. Robert Montgomery, a transplant surgeon at NYU Langone Health in New York City. (AP Photo/Shelby Lamb)
Rooney’s surgery is an important step in preparing scientists for formal studies of xenotransplantation, which are expected to begin next year, said Dr. Robert Montgomery of New York University Langone Health, who led the highly experimental procedure. said.
Rooney is recovering well after undergoing the transplant, which was announced on Tuesday. She was discharged from the hospital just 11 days after surgery and continued her recovery in a nearby apartment, but was briefly readmitted this week to have her medication adjusted. Doctors expect her to return to her home in Alabama within three months. If your pig’s kidneys fail, you may be able to start dialysis again.
“It’s an extraordinary thing that has brought hope back to her and her family,” said Dr. Jamie Locke, Rooney’s first surgeon who received approval from the Food and Drug Administration for the transplant on November 25th.
There are more than 100,000 people on the U.S. transplant list, most of them in need of a kidney. Thousands of people are dying while waiting, and many more who need a transplant are not eligible for one. Now, scientists are genetically modifying pigs to make their organs more similar to humans in search of alternative sources.
Rooney donated his kidney to his mother in 1999. Later, complications during her pregnancy caused high blood pressure that damaged her remaining kidneys and eventually caused them to fail. It is very rare for living donors to develop kidney failure, but if they do, they are given special priority on the transplant list.
However, Rooney was unable to fit in. She had developed antibodies that were abnormally primed to attack another human’s kidneys. Tests revealed that she rejected everything offered by kidney donors.
Then Rooney heard about the pig kidney research. University of Alabama at Birmingham She told Locke, then a transplant surgeon at UAB, that she wanted to try a transplant. In April 2023, Mr. Locke filed an FDA request for emergency testing under a rule for people like Mr. Rooney who don’t have a choice.
The FDA didn’t immediately agree. Instead, the world’s first gene-edited pig kidney transplants were performed on two critically ill patients last spring at Massachusetts General Hospital and New York University. Both had serious heart disease. The Boston patient recovered enough to spend about a month at home, but died of sudden cardiac arrest, which does not appear to be related to the pig’s kidney. The NYU patient suffered heart complications that damaged the pig’s kidney, which had to be removed and later died.
These disappointing results did not deter Rooney, who had started to feel unwell from undergoing dialysis, but had not developed heart disease or other complications, Locke said. spoke. Ultimately, the FDA cleared the transplant at New York University, where Mr. Locke collaborated with Mr. Montgomery.
Even if her new organ fails, doctors can learn from it, Rooney told The Associated Press. “You don’t know if it’s going to work until you try it.”
Blacksburg, Virginia-based Rivivicore donated Rooney’s new kidney from a pig with 10 genetic mutations. Shortly after Montgomery sewed the kidney in place, it turned a healthy pink color and began producing urine.
Pig kidney recipient Twana Rooney stands with transplant surgeons Dr. Jamie Locke (left) and Dr. Robert Montgomery (center) at New York University Langone Health. (AP Photo/Shelby Lamb)
Rooney was initially discharged from the hospital on Dec. 6, wearing a monitor to track her blood pressure, heart rate and other bodily functions, and returning to the hospital for daily tests before being readmitted for medication. Doctors will review her blood tests and other tests and compare them to previous studies on animals and animals. several people We hope to be able to spot early warnings if a problem occurs.
“A lot of what we’re seeing is seeing it for the first time,” Montgomery said.
When Rooney visited Locke, who now works for the federal government, last week, he hugged his longtime doctor and said, “Thank you for never abandoning me.”
“Never,” Locke answered.
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The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Science and Education Media Group. AP is solely responsible for all content.
