Kidney Donation

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• QHow do I know if I am able to donate a kidney?

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  A Scripps Health answered

  The blood types of the donor and recipient play a key role in living kidney donation. The two people do not need to have the same blood type, but the types must be compatible to support a successful transplantation. Donors with type O blood are considered to be universal donors and can give a kidney to a recipient with any other blood type. Recipients with type AB blood can accept donations from donors with any blood type.
  
  There are no universally accepted rules for living kidney donation, so guidelines will vary depending on the transplant center, the surgeon and other factors. Generally speaking, living donors should be between the ages of 18 and 65 and in good health. Living donors go through an extensive series of tests to determine whether they are medically, surgically and emotionally prepared to donate a kidney.
• QHow long do I have to wait for a donor kidney?

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  A NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital answered

  The length of time that patients must wait for a kidney transplant varies greatly. If a patient has a friend or family member who wishes to donate a kidney, the time to transplantation may be a matter of just weeks or months. If no living donor is available and the patient remains on the wait list for a deceased-donor organ, the wait may be several years.
  
  Regardless of the time to transplantation or the donor source, candidates for transplantation must maintain close communication and regular checkups with the transplant team. It is important to remain as healthy and strong as possible, so that when the donor organ becomes available, the patient will be in the best possible physical condition to undergo surgery. Good health not only makes it more likely that transplant surgery can proceed, but it helps patients recover better and faster after the surgery. Patients should keep the transplant team's phone numbers accessible at all times, and should contact the team if any new or significant health issues develop. Each patient is assigned to a Transplant Coordinator who will be their primary contact while waiting for their kidney transplant.

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• QWhat are paired kidney exchanges?

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  A NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital answered

  Increasingly, the arrangement of paired exchanges, or "donor swaps," is facilitating transplants where matches would not have been possible. A paired exchange consists of two (or more) kidney/donor recipient pairs whose blood types are not compatible or when the recipient has antibodies against their donor. The recipients trade donors so that each recipient can receive a kidney with a compatible blood type.
  
  The transplant programs of NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital are national leaders in the performance of multiple paired living donor kidney transplantation. Since 2004, the Hospital has performed many two-way swaps, which require four simultaneous operations, as well as several three-way, four-way, and even a six-way exchange. These arrangements allow some patients to receive a transplant who otherwise would not have had a compatible donor. The Hospital also pioneered the Never Ending Altruistic Donor (NEAD) Chain, in which one altruistic living kidney donor, willing to donate to any patient awaiting transplantation, begins a chain of kidney transplants that otherwise would not be possible.

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• QWho can donate a kidney?

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  A NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital answered

  Potential kidney donors may range from 18 years of age into their 70's. Overall good health is required, and immunologic compatibility with the recipient is preferred. People with certain diseases such as cancer, HIV, hepatitis C or diabetes will not be eligible to donate. Potential kidney donors must undergo extensive testing and interviews to determine eligibility to donate.
  
  Donors may be blood relatives of the recipient, or they may be unrelated. Compatible live donor transplants (in which blood type and genetic make-up between donor and recipient match well) are the gold standard of kidney transplant procedures. Better genetic and immunologic matches help to reduce the risk of organ rejection. A kidney from a perfectly matched sibling donor can function for an average of 35 years, while less perfectly matched kidneys function for 20 years on average.

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• QWhat is living kidney donation?

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  A Scripps Health answered

  Each year in the United States, about 6,000 people voluntarily donate one of their healthy kidneys to a friend, sibling or other loved one. And increasingly, living kidney donations are being completed without either party ever meeting. Most people are born with two kidneys but can live fine with just one. In living kidney donation, a donor voluntarily undergoes surgery and gives a healthy kidney to a patient who needs it due to end-stage renal disease (advance kidney failure that can’t be reversed). 
• QWhat is an altruistic kidney donor?

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  A Dr. Katrina Bramstedt, PhD , Health Education, answered

  In reality the motivation for ALL organ donations should be altruistic-- that is the principle. However, the term is often used to mean "living organ donation to a stranger". Another synonymous term is "Good Samaritan donation".

  For more information on Good Samaritan donation, read my book, The Organ Donor Experience: Good Samaritans and the Meaning of Altruism.

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• QWhat are the misconceptions about kidney donation?

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  A National Kidney Foundation answered

  Here are some myths surrounding kidney donation (and donation in general):
  
  Myth: My religion doesn’t approve of organ donation.
  
  Reality: While there are variations in specific views, most of the world's major religions support and even encourage organ donation and transplantation.
  
  Myth: If I check on my driver’s license that I’m an organ donor or sign up for a donor registry, they won’t try as hard to save my life.
  
  Reality: In order for organs to be successfully transplanted, they need continuous access to oxygen. Emergency care professionals must first work to save your life, which in turn will help save your organs. If healthcare providers didn’t first save the patient, there wouldn’t be any potential for organ donation since these outcomes are medically connected. So if anything, your organ donor status is a reason to work even harder to save your life.
  
  Myth: There must be a genetic link between a donor and recipient to ensure a successful transplant.
  
  Reality: Thanks to improved immunosuppressant medications, a live organ can come from a family member, good friend, spouse, in-law, or even a stranger.
   
  Myth: Kidney donors could shop around for the highest bidder.
  
  Reality: Under federal law, it is illegal to receive money or gifts in exchange for donating an organ. The cost of a living donor’s evaluation, testing and surgery are generally paid for by the recipient’s Medicare or private health insurance. Time off from work and travel expenses are not covered by Medicare or private insurance, but living donors may be eligible for sick leave, state disability and the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA).
   
  Myth: Doctors care more about the organ recipient’s health than the living donor’s health.
  
  Reality: The healthcare professionals who evaluate potential living donors are completely separate from those of the recipient. The potential donor’s healthcare team is dedicated solely to the donor and to making sure that he or she is going to live a normal, healthy life post-donation. People who wish to donate will not be allowed to do so unless their healthcare team is confident that donation won’t negatively affect their health or lives.
• QWhat are the benefits of living kidney donation?

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  A Scripps Health answered

  There are several reasons why living kidney donation is preferred to receiving an organ from a deceased donor. First, the recipient does not have to wait on a donor list for an organ to become available. In San Diego County, the average wait for a donated organ from a deceased donor is three to six years, depending on the blood type. Also, a kidney from a living donor generally lasts longer than organs from deceased individuals.
• QWhat is the most rewarding thing about operating on live donors?

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  A Dr. Ajay K. Sahajpal, MD , Transplant Surgery, answered on behalf of Aurora Health Care

  Taking a completely normal individual and putting them through surgery to benefit another is altruistic on the donor's part. As a surgeon who does live donor surgery, to be honest the most rewarding part is when the surgery is complete and the donor and the recipient of the donor organ has done well.
• QWhat are the risks of a kidney donation?

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  A NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital answered

  Risks to the donor are small and manageable, but include pain, infection, pneumonia, blood clotting, collapsed lung, and allergic reaction to anesthesia. The risk of death is extremely low – 3 in every 10,000 procedures, which is a lower risk than driving to work each day. Donating a kidney will not prevent donors from becoming pregnant or from fathering a child.