rewrite this title Inside the operating room of a new kind of pig kidney transplant : Short Wave

Towana Looney became the first living person in the world to get a kidney from a new kind of genetically modified pig last month. Looney is a 53-year-old grandmother from Gadsden, Ala.

She’s been on dialysis for four hours a day, three days a week since 2016. Her immune system would reject a human kidney. So the Food and Drug Administration made an exception to its usual clinical study requirements to allow Looney this new kind of pig kidney.

Using pig organs like this is highly experimental, but her doctors say it’s her only chance. Even so, the procedure is controversial. Some worry animal organs could spread viruses to people, others are uncomfortable exploiting animals for their organs and some worry that patients in circumstances like Looney’s feel like they have to say yes to the procedure.

Interested in more stories on the future of transplant medicine? Email us at shortwave@npr.org. We’d love to hear from you!

Listen to Short Wave on Spotify and Apple Podcasts.

Listen to every episode of Short Wave sponsor-free and support our work at NPR by signing up for Short Wave+ at plus.npr.org/shortwave.

This episode was produced by Rachel Carlson and Jessica Yung and edited by showrunner Rebecca Ramirez. Rob and Tyler Jones checked the facts. Patrick Murray was the audio engineer.