A kidney donor can live with just one kidney as long as he or she remains healthy. In this video, Ronald Martin, RN, with the transplant services team at Riverside Community Hospital, says that prospective kidney donors are evaluated extensively.
Kidney Donation
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National Kidney Foundation answeredIn order to be evaluated as a kidney donor you must be healthy and without diseases that may lead to kidney failure. These include diabetes and high blood pressure (hypertension). A potential donor is first tested for blood type compatibility with the potential recipient. After blood type compatibility is confirmed, the healthcare team will perform several other tests. These tests are done to look for complications that could possibly cause the recipient’s body to reject the new kidney; they also identify any health problems in the potential donor that would make him or her unsuitable as a donor.
A couple of weeks before the scheduled transplant surgery, a kidney donor is given a complete physical examination and advised of any other instructions before the hospital admission. An evaluation from a social worker is done to make sure the donation is being done willingly and without pressure.
Before the operation, the surgical procedure is explained in great detail, along with the possible risks and complications. -
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Scripps Health answeredThere 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. -
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National Kidney Foundation answeredHere 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. -
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To be a good candidate for living kidney donation, a person must be at least 18 years old or less than 70 years old. Living donors should be in good overall physical and mental health and free from uncontrolled high blood pressure, diabetes, cancer, HIV/AIDS, hepatitis and organ diseases. They must pass all tests done by the transplant team. If any part of the tests comes back as unacceptable, then another donor must be considered. If there is no other donor, then the recipient can be placed on a waiting list.
People who can be considered to be a living donor can be blood relatives or someone who has an emotional bond with you such as a husband, wife or good friend. -
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Scripps Health answeredEach 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).
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Traditionally, only living altruistic donors (aka “non-directed donors”) have triggered chains of transplants. However, a deceased donor kidney could theoretically trigger a chain, and the last donor of the chain could close it by donating a kidney back to the deceased donor waitlist. -
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There are donors and recipients of all races who participate in kidney exchanges. You can't tell someone's ethnicity by looking at a kidney – a kidney is always pink!
Sometimes the person whose kidney is most compatible with you is from someone you would least expect. Kidney exchanges help remind us that people are more similar than different. -
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Kidney donors will need to return for regular checkups, even years after surgery.
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NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital answeredSee All 2 AnswersSome centers remove a donor's kidney using conventional surgical procedures with an open incision, but all kidney removal procedures (nephrectomies) at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital are performed laparoscopically. For anatomical reasons, the left kidney is usually the one that is removed for transplantation. Surgeons perform the procedure using tiny instruments that are inserted into three or four small incisions, called ports, in the abdomen. The laparoscopic technique benefits donors by significantly reducing post-operative pain, reducing scarring, and shortening recovery times: on average, kidney donors spend two days in the hospital and can return to their normal activities within three weeks.