Alabama woman undergoes surgery to remove rejected porcine kidney

Health officials at Nyu Langone said on Friday that the surgeon had removed genetically modified pig kidneys from an Alabama woman after experiencing acute organ rejection.

Towana Rooney, 53, lived with her kidneys for 130 days. This tolerate organs from genetically modified animals for longer than anyone else. She has resumed dialysis, hospital officials said.

Rooney’s surgeon and director of the NYU Langon Transplantation Institute, Dr. Robert Montgomery, said so-called explantation is not a setback in the field of xenografting.

“This was the longest of these organs,” he said in an interview, adding that Rooney had other medical conditions that could have complicated her prognosis.

“This all takes time,” he said. “This game is won by progressive improvements, singles and doubles rather than swinging for the fence and trying to score a home run.”

Rooney’s further treatment could have saved the organ, but she and her medical team opposed it, Dr. Montgomery said.

“No. 1 is safe. I had to be sure she was fine,” he said.

Another patient, Tim Andrews of Concord, New Hampshire, has been living with the kidneys of a genetically modified pig since January 25th, according to a doctor at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston. He has been hospitalized twice for a biopsy.

Just as two patients fed genetically modified pig hearts, two other patients who received similar kidneys in recent years have died.

Rooney, who returned to her Alabama home after coming to New York for treatment, said in a statement that she was grateful for the opportunity to take part in the groundbreaking procedure.

“For the first time since 2016, I enjoyed my time with friends and family without planning dialysis treatments,” Rooney said in a statement provided by Nyu Langone.

“The outcome is not something nobody wanted, but I know I learned a lot from 130 days with pig kidneys. I know this can help and stimulate many others on my journey to overcome kidney disease,” she said.

Hospital officials said Rooney’s kidney function had decreased after experiencing organ rejection. The cause was being investigated, Dr. Montgomery said.

However, the response follows a decrease in immunosuppressive drugs that have been put into treatment of unrelated infections, he added.

The first indication of the trouble was a blood test done in Alabama, showing that Rooney had increased levels of creatinine, a waste product that is removed from the blood through her kidneys. Level elevation signal may be a problem with kidney function.

Rooney was admitted to the hospital, but when creatinine levels continued to rise, she flew to New York. There, the doctor biopsied the kidneys and found clear signs of rejection, Dr. Montgomery said.

Hospital officials said the kidneys were removed last Friday.

“The decision was made by Rooney and her doctors that the safest intervention would be to remove the kidneys and return to dialysis, rather than adding them,” Dr. Montgomery said in a statement.

United Therapeutics Corporation, a biotechnology company that produced the pigs that donated Rooney’s kidneys, thanked her for her courage and said the organs appear to work well to their rejection.

The company plans to start clinical trials for a Butakidney transplant this year, starting with six patients and eventually growing to 50 patients.

Pig organs are considered a potential solution to a lack of donated organs, particularly kidneys. Over 550,000 Americans suffer from kidney failure and need dialysis, of which around 100,000 are on the waiting list to receive their kidneys.

However, there is a sharp need for human organs, with fewer than 25,000 transplants being performed in 2023. Many patients die while waiting.