Nephrology and Renal Care

Kidney Transplantation

Surgery performed to replace a diseased kidney with a healthy kidney from a donor is called a kidney transplant. A person might need a kidney transplant when they are at end-stage renal disease (ESRD) which is a permanent condition of kidney failure that requires dialysis. Often family members are a good match or others donate one of their kidneys. Donors can be living or deceased one and the living donors can lead a healthy life with one healthy kidney. The new kidney is placed in the lower abdomen. Complications after the kidney transplant include bleeding, infection, blockage of urine in the ureter, blockage of the blood vessels in the new kidney. Kidney transplant recipients are given immunosuppressants to prevent the body from rejecting the new kidney and long-term use of immunosuppressants puts the kidney transplant patients at higher risk for infections and cancer. Current issues associated with kidney transplantation are kidney allocation policies, xenotransplantation, transplant tourism, tolerance, and kidney transplantation clinical trials.

Related associations and societies: International Society of Nephrology (ISN), American Society of Transplantation (AST), American Society of Nephrology (ASN), UK Kidney Association (UKKA), Canadian Society of Nephrology (CSN), Hong Kong Society of Nephrology (HKSN), Saudi Society of Nephrology and Transplantation (SSN&T), Australian and New Zealand Society of Nephrology (ANZSN), Malaysian Society of Nephrology (MSN), National Kidney Foundation (NKF), California Dialysis Council (CDC), International Society for Hemodialysis (ISHD)