A US woman had donated a kidney to her mother back in 1999 only for the remaining one to fail years later due to pregnancy complications.
53-year-old Towana Looney from Alabama has become the latest recipient of a gene-edited pig kidney. Currently, she is the only living person in the world with an animal organ transplant, according to New York’s NYU Langone hospital announcement.
The process of transplanting organs from one species to another is called
Pigs have become the ideal donors as they grow fast, produce large litters and are already part of the human food supply.
Advocates hope that this approach may help address the severe organ shortage in the United States. More than 100,000 people are waiting for transplants, including over 90,000 in need of kidneys in the US.
Since December 2016, Towana Looney had been living with dialysis .
