Kidney Transplant

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Before proceeding for a kidney Surgery, the nephrologist starts the process with some tests. These tests include blood, tissue and compatibility tests with the donor's kidney. Some of the tests are listed below, have a look.

The process begins with the blood type compatibility with the recipient, after this a tissue typing test is done and then the crossmatching. Below, is the list of more tests performed in kidney transplant.

• Blood Test: In this test, the compatibility of blood is checked with the donor.

• Tissue Test: It is again a blood test that is performed to examine a number of antigens the patient and donor share. These antigens are helpful to recognize the difference between two people’s body tissues.

• Cross - Matching: Antigens are the genetic markers which make everybody a unique body. It is a blood test that is done to check whether the donor’s kidney reacts to your kidney or not, if it doesn't react to the patient’s kidney, the result is a negative cross-match. This means the transplant surgery can happen.

When the kidneys fail to filter and clean the blood, the condition is known as renal failure. This causes unsafe levels of waste products to build up. Unless it is treated, this can cause death. Some common causes of renal failure are listed below,

• Diabetes Polycystic kidney disease
• High blood pressure 
• Chronic glomerulonephritis — an inflammation and eventual scarring of the tiny filters within the kidneys (glomeruli)

Dialysis is an ongoing process that is expensive, time-consuming and painful for the patient. Hence, many patients prefer a kidney transplant. This gives more freedom and flexibility to the patient and a chance to resume their normal lives. Kidney transplant also has better survival rates. In certain cases, however, the doctors may advise against a kidney transplant. This includes situations like advanced age, active cancer, severe mental illness, alcohol, heart disease, and dementia.

While a transplant helps you treat and manage your kidney disease it is not a cure, and kidney failure can always recur. For deceased donor kidneys, the chances of transplanted kidney failing in the first year are only 4%. For living donor kidneys, it’s even lower at 3%. However, if we look at this number 5 years after transplant it goes up to 21% for deceased donor kidneys and 14% for living donor kidneys. Thus, there is a possibility of recurrence of kidney failure even after the kidney transplant at which point the patient and the doctor need to decide on whether dialysis or another transplant is the best option. Nonetheless, a kidney transplant allows the patient to live a healthy and relatively normal life for many years and should definitely be considered by patients who are eligible.

A kidney transplant is a major surgery and naturally carries some risks with it. There are three major kinds of risks associated with a kidney transplant.Below is the list, have a look.

• The first risk is the possibility of your body rejecting the kidney or the new kidney failing. However, this is a very rare occurrence.
• The second set of risks come with the complexity of the procedure. These include Blood clots Bleeding Allergic reaction to general anaesthesia Infection transmitted with the donated kidney Death, heart attack and stroke during the surgery Leakage from the ureter Blockage of the ureter.
• The third set of risks comes from taking the anti-rejection medication that helps prevent your body from rejecting the new kidney. These include Weight gain Bone thinning Increased hair growth Acne A higher risk of developing certain skin cancers

There is a different type of kidney donors, the names are used to describe the biological and anatomic functions of donor's kidneys. It depends on the patient that what type of kidney S/he chooses for the transplant. Given below is the list of the types, have a look.

• Double Kidney Transplants: It is the transplantation of both donor's kidneys into the patient body.

• Standard Criteria Donors: The kidneys used in this type of transplant process belong to the donor with age group below 50.

• Expanded Criteria Donors (ECD): Donors in such kidney transplants age between 50 and above. Also, these donors might have a history of high creatinine level or high blood pressure.

• Donation after Cardiac Death (DCD): The heart beats of such donors stop before the organ removal for transplantation.