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What is a kidney transplant?

It’s an operation in which a diseased kidney in one individual (the recipient) is replaced with a healthy kidney from another individual (the donor). Usually the donor kidney comes from a living donor, typically a family member or friend. In some cases, the kidney is taken from someone who has suffered brain death.

I understand that LPCH’s Kidney Transplant Program prefers living donor transplants. Why?

°Õ³ó¾±²õÌýprogram transplants more kidneys from living donors than the average for other centers in the United States. The data show that deceased-donor recipients suffer twice as many episodes of acute organ rejection as do living-donor recipients in the first three years following transplantation. This finding leads to the expectation that deceased-donor recipients will be more at risk of transplant rejection over the long term than will living-donor recipients. As a result, the Kidney Transplantation Program prefers living-donor transplants.

Who is the most likely living donor for a given child?

A parent is usually the best match, although sometimes an aunt or uncle may become a donor. Occasionally, unrelated donors with a good match can be found. Siblings under the age of 21 are ineligible to donate a kidney because they are too young to consent legally to the procedure.

If I am selected as a kidney donor, how long will the recovery period be?

LPCH has been a leader in the use of what is known as minimal-incision nephrectomy (kidney removal). The incision is only 3 inches long, about one-third the length of the standard open-incision nephrectomy. This approach also eliminates the additional smaller incisions used in nephrectomy via laparoscope. Not only does the donor recover faster with the minimal-incision nephrectomy. Donor kidneys transplanted with this technique function more quickly in the recipient than do kidneys removed with the laparoscopic approach.