Living kidney transplants are transplants from living donors, as opposed to deceased ones. They are an excellent option for some, but not all, patients. Today, you do not need to be related to the recipient in order to donate a kidney. And, if your hospital - like Johns Hopkins - has an incompatible kidney program, most donors do not need to have compatible blood or tissue types.
With a live kidney transplant, the donor kidney lasts about twice as long as a deceased donor kidney on average. The gap between patients waiting and kidneys available for transplantation is closed.
The survival rate of a patient who becomes critically ill and subsequently receives a kidney transplant is around 65 percent. But a living donor transplant recipient’s survival rate climbs to 90 percent. In addition, the chance of postoperative complications is reduced, as well as a reduction in hospital stays and medical care costs.
The laparoscopic nephrectomy, first performed at Johns Hopkins, is a minimally invasive surgical procedure that makes the surgery easier for living donors. Unlike the older method, which removed the kidney through a large incision, the laparoscopic nephrectomy uses only four small incisions.
With a live kidney transplant, the donor kidney lasts about twice as long as a deceased donor kidney on average. The gap between patients waiting and kidneys available for transplantation is closed.
The survival rate of a patient who becomes critically ill and subsequently receives a kidney transplant is around 65 percent. But a living donor transplant recipient’s survival rate climbs to 90 percent. In addition, the chance of postoperative complications is reduced, as well as a reduction in hospital stays and medical care costs.
The laparoscopic nephrectomy, first performed at Johns Hopkins, is a minimally invasive surgical procedure that makes the surgery easier for living donors. Unlike the older method, which removed the kidney through a large incision, the laparoscopic nephrectomy uses only four small incisions.
