Legacy Kidney Transplant Services
If you're considering kidney donation or receiving a kidney transplant from a live donor, this information should help. For more details please consult your physician or call Legacy Transplant Services at 503-413-6555.
Medical evaluation
A number of tests are used to evaluate the health of both the live donor and the recipient. Patients are checked for conditions that might influence the success of the transplant, such as cardiac disease, cancer and infections. In addition, men are checked for prostate cancer and women must receive a mammogram and a pap smear.
A social worker meets with the patient to discuss issues such as the patient's support system and ways to provide the necessary medications. The social worker also looks into the potential donor's reasons for donating a kidney.
Thorough lab tests are used to confirm immunity to various viruses and to check for possible organ rejection by the recipient. Tests also determine whether the donor's kidney matches any of six specific antigens in the recipient's genetic make-up. Generally, the more matches the better, although modern immune suppressive medications can allow successful transplants with no matches.
Surgery
Surgery for the recipient of a new kidney takes about three hours. The patient's original kidneys are left in place, where they atrophy and shrink. The surgeon places the new kidney into the groin in a "pocket" and attaches the artery and vein to the donor femoral artery and vein going down that leg.
Surgery for a live donor starts slightly before the recipient's surgery. Sometimes a minimally invasive technique is used, which requires a smaller incision and less recovery time. But it also takes much longer, so for various reasons doctors and patients sometimes opt for more traditional open-incision surgery.
Donor and recipient are in adjoining operating rooms, so that the donated kidney is out of a body for just a few minutes.
Recovery
Both recipient and donor typically go home in about five days.
The recipient is closely monitored in Intensive Care for the first 24-48 hours, then moved to the Transplant Unit. The recipient returns to the clinic three times a week for follow-up care the first three weeks, then the frequency tapers off. At the end of three months, the patient is referred back to their original kidney specialist, who also follows up at six months and then annually.
The most critical issue for transplant patients is learning about the medicines they must take twice a day for the rest of their lives, without fail, to prevent tissue rejection.
Average life spans of transplanted kidneys
In the United States, a kidney from a non-living donor lasts an average of 12 years; from a living non-related donor an average of 18 years; and from a living related donor lasts an average of 19 years (or 25 years if the donor and recipient match all six markers).
These figures apply to people whose transplanted kidneys successfully function past the one-year mark, a milestone achieved nationally by 95 percent of patients.
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