Kidney Transplantation
Kidney transplantation or renal transplantation is the organ transplant of a kidney in a patient with end-stage renal disease. Kidney transplantation is typically classified as deceased-donor or living-donor transplantation depending on the source of the recipient organ. Living-donor renal transplants are further characterized as genetically related or non-related transplants, depending on whether a biological relationship exists between the donor and recipient.
The transplant surgery lasts about 3 hours. The donor kidney will be placed in the lower abdomen. The blood vessels from the donor kidney will be connected to arteries and veins in the recipient's body. When this is complete, blood will be allowed to flow through the kidney again, so the ischaemia time is minimized. In most cases, the kidney will soon start producing urine. Since urine is sterile, this has no effect on the operation. The final step is connecting the ureter from the donor kidney to the bladder.
The new kidney usually begins functioning immediately after surgery, but this may, depending on the quality of the organ, take a few days. Hospital stay is typically for 4 to 7 days. If complications arise, additional medicines may be administered to help the kidney produce urine.
Medicines are used to suppress the immune system from rejecting the donor kidney. These medicines must be taken for the rest of the patient's life. The most common medication regimen today is : tacrolimus, mycophenolate, and prednisone. Some patients may instead take ciclosporin, rapamycin, or azathioprine.
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Kidney Transplantation
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