Kidney transplant is an invasive procedure in which a healthy kidney of a donor is
transplanted into a patient (recipient) that has suffered from kidney failure.
Living Donor - A person alive who is donating the kidney
Cadaveric Donor - Kidney of a dead person, who donates a kidney after his death.
Kidney Transplant Process
Pre-transplant process – you will be referred to pre-transplant clinic where doctors will evaluate best match for you. If a donor is available, doctors will do blood work of a donor and a recipient to understand if the transplant will be successful.
Surgery – A donor will undergo a laparoscopic surgery while a recipient will have to go through a complex surgery of few hours which could be life-threating. The doctors will ask you to sign a consent form in case of death they will not be responsible. However, major transplants have been successfully performed. This should not be a major concern.
Post-transplant care – Right after the transplant you will be on kidney anti-rejection drugs for rest of your life. These are also known as immunosuppressants. This is needed because a human body does not accept any foreign organ. The immune system will try to reject it. Immunosuppressants or anti-rejection drugs will lower the strength of immune system.
If you eat healthy food, your chances of saving transplanted kidney from rejection are much higher.
A living donor kidney on an average can function for more than 25 years if you maintain a healthy life style.