Transplant surgery on the sick pigs Towana Looney at the New YorkU Langone Hospital and the risk of PERV propagation

NEW YORK – Towana Looney can hardly contain her anticipation as she waits to get wheeled to an operating room at the NYU Langone Health hospital in New York City for an historic procedure.

Two people have received transplants from genetically engineered pigs, one in January 2020 and another in September 2023 at the University of Maryland. Those patients died less than two months after their surgeries and were too sick to leave the hospital.

Dr. Robert Montgomery is the director of the NYU Langone’s Transplant Institute and was the lead surgeon on the operation.

After she was discharged, Looney’s doctors were able to remove the blood clot from herkidney by giving her fluids. She is in the hospital to be treated for additional anti-rejection medication. The hospital says herKidney seems to continue function well.

He says that the company has taken steps to stop the pig viruses from being spread to people. Everyone in the operating room must be tested again in four months after their surgery to make sure they don’t catch a pig virus known as PERV.

A transplanted pig kidney offers a grandmother hope for life without dialysis: A study of a bioethicist’s perspective

“As a bioethicist, I think it’s a concern that patients can’t refuse because the other option is certain death,” says Johnson. “I am concerned that patients like that are vulnerable to false hope.”

She donated one of her kidneys to her mother. A few years later, she developed chronic high blood pressure during a pregnancy and her remaining kidney failed in 2016. Since then, she’s been on dialysis for four hours a day, three days a week.

The symptoms that limited her before the operation have disappeared. “No weakness. No tiredness. No fatigue. There was no swelling from fluid intake. I can eat more. I can drink more. I am able to walk a long distance. It’s amazing,” she says. “It’s life-changing.”

Source: A transplanted pig kidney offers a grandmother hope for life without dialysis

A Transplanted Pig Kidney for a grandmother hope for life without dialysis: Jayme Locke, MD, a Pioneer

“It’s a very big day.” Dr. Jayme Locke says she is a true pioneer. Prior to NYU, she worked as a doctor at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. She’s assisting Montgomery today.

A big screen on the wall shows the flight path of another set of surgeons. They’re flying back from rural Virginia with two kidneys from one of the cloned, gene-edited pigs being bred at a research farm run by Revivicor, a Blacksburg, Va., biotech company. NPR got exclusive access to tour the company’s facility last spring.

After stitching the kidneys up, the surgeons unclamp the vein and arteries to let the blood flow into the pig organ.

A helicopter carrying pig kidneys is shown on a screen on the wall. The helicopter swoops through the clear blue sky as it makes its way to the helipad. The arriving crew places a white box about the size of a microwave oven that contains the pig’s two kidneys on a wheelchair and rushes it to the operating room.

We aren’t sure how we’re going to put them in until I have a chance to look at them. Montgomery said that they may also use the vessels from the other one.

The team then starts another long, delicate task: preparing the pig kidneys for implantation. That involves the separation of the kidneys and the removal of fat to locate veins and arteries.

Source: A transplanted pig kidney offers a grandmother hope for life without dialysis

The Blood Pressure of a Transplanted Pig Kidney: A Grandmother Hope for Life without Dialysis. I. Montgomery’s Response

We’re about to do it again. How’s her blood pressure? Montgomery said to take the clamp off the vein. Initially, you will notice that it is dark colored. I’m going to take off the clamp from the artery. It should be nice and pink.

“Here we go,” Montgomery says, prompting another round of cheers and applause as urine starts gushing out. “Look at that. That is great. Look at that. Beautiful. That is gorgeous. It’s pouring out. Montgomery said he would have wet socks tonight, laughing as urine splashed him.

“Couldn’t have gone better. He says it could not have gone better. At this point, we’re really pleased. You know, it’s early days. It’s a big deal. It’s important that we are off to a good start.

He says that it is pretty amazing when you think about it. How about having a pig transplant in a human so it will work right away? You know, it’s like Stars Wars stuff, right?”

More than 103,000 people are waiting for organs for transplants, and 17 die every day, according to federal statistics. The most needed organs are the kidneys.

Source: A transplanted pig kidney offers a grandmother hope for life without dialysis

The Transplantation of a Transplanted Pig Kidney Gives a Grandmother Hope for Life without Dialysis: Revivicor and eGenesis

Looney tried other experimental procedures before this, but nothing worked. “This has been a long journey for her,” says Locke, her long-time physician. She is here today. I’m really looking forward to her getting her life back.

“It’s a super exciting day,” agrees David Ayares, president and chief scientific officer at Revivicor, who’s been waiting outside the operating room to hear how the surgery went. “Unbelievable.”

“The goal is an unlimited supply of organs,” Ayares. “We’re trying to solve the organ shortage crisis. So having an unlimited supply of kidneys, hearts and other organs is what it’s all about.”

Critics say a careful study is needed to thoroughly evaluate pig kidneys, instead of doing the surgeries one by one.

“The compassionate use experiments have been helpful in advancing the science of xenotransplantation,” says Michael Gusmano, a bioethicist at Lehigh University College of Health.

“It’s difficult to draw conclusions about safety and efficacy from xenotransplants with patients who have different medical profiles,” says Karen Maschke, a bioethicist at The Hastings Center, a biomedical think tank. It’s not very easy to draw safety and efficacy conclusions when pigs with different genes are used.

Revivicor is asking the FDA to approve a formal clinical trial that could start as soon as 2025. eGenesis is also testing organs from a modified pig.

The company is not doing enough to prevent pigs from spreading germs to people. There was evidence one of the pig heart recipients got infected with a pig virus called porcine cytomegalovirus.

Source: A transplanted pig kidney offers a grandmother hope for life without dialysis

She has a transplanted pig kidney: A grandmother hope for life without dialysis, and she doesn’t stop peeing

She enjoys cooking, eating and drinking a wide range of foods and beverages, and is exploring New York, despite wearing a mask to avoid crowds. Her risk of getting infections is made worse because she is taking medication to reduce her risk of rejecting the kidneys.

“I was like, ‘Wow!’ ” she says. I told the nurse I was peeing. She said: ‘No kidding. You’re peeing a lot so that’s good. It was great to see.

Source: A transplanted pig kidney offers a grandmother hope for life without dialysis

She Survived a Transplantation Procedure on her Boundary: After a Few Years, Annihilating in Tampa, Florida

Her friends have been very supportive of her, even though one of them disagreed with the procedure. “I said, ‘You ate bacon this morning for breakfast didn’t you?’ ” laughing. “It’s lifesaving.’ “

Looney’s looking forward to returning to her job as a part-time cashier at a Dollar General, traveling and spending more time with her family, especially her two adult daughters and two grandchildren.

After having a procedure on her body at NYU Langone Health in November, she is no longer on her health insurance. She was discharged from the hospital on December 6, and her doctors say she is in good health. Her surgery is the latest in a series of similar procedures known as xenotransplantation, the practice of transplanting organs from one species to another.