Advantages Over Traditional Kidney Transplantation
Patients with advanced kidney disease who are candidates for kidney transplantation – and who wish to pursue this option – can receive compatible kidneys from either living or deceased donors.
On the whole, patients transplanted with kidneys from living donors achieve long-term outcomes and survival rates that are significantly better than those who receive kidneys from deceased donors.
Living donation provides many advantages over traditional deceased-donor transplantation:
- Through living donation, patients avoid the waiting list, which is at least four to seven years for a deceased-donor organ.
- With genetic matches achieved through living donation, there is a decrease in the risk of organ rejection.
- The transplant can be scheduled at a time convenient for both the living donor and the transplant candidate. In fact, if the transplant procedure is planned correctly, dialysis might be avoided completely.
- Studies indicate that dialysis shortens a patient’s lifespan. Living donations allow transplants to occur much sooner (months, as opposed to years), meaning less dialysis and longer, healthier lives.
- Success rates improve with living-donor kidneys. Living-donor kidneys are transplanted immediately after removal, allowing the kidney to begin to function in the recipient much faster.
- A living-donor kidney lasts longer than a deceased-donor kidney.
For these reasons, our kidney transplant experts encourage kidney transplantation candidates to actively pursue living donation when possible.