For the patients of chronic kidney disease and end-stage renal disease, a kidney transplant is often a treatment of choice. It is a preferred treatment over Kidney dialysis.
Types of Kidney transplant:
Living donor kidney transplant: As name indicates, transplantation of a kidney from living donor is known as Living donor kidney transplant. A kidney is donated by a close family member, friend or by a stranger willing to donate it.
Deceased donor kidney transplant: In this type of transplant, a Kidney is received from a recently deceased donor. It can be a donation of kidney/kidneys from a deceased person as per his/her choice of organ donation upon death or consent of family members.
Compared to dialysis treatment, kidney transplant has many advantages such as, lower risk of death, low treatment cost, good quality of life and less dietary restrictions.
A kidney transplant prior to dialysis treatment can be beneficial in some patients. This process of kidney transplant before dialysis is known as preemptive kidney transplant. On the contrary, in some patients, it is more risky to undergo kidney transplant than the dialysis process.
Given below are the conditions in which it is not recommended to go for a kidney transplant.- Severe heart disease
- Old age
- History of cancer
- Active cancer
- Mental illness
- Dementia
- Alcohol abuse
- Drug abuse
For replacing two failed kidneys, one donated kidney is required. This makes an option of living-donor kidney transplantation.
The process of kidney transplant involves surgical opening of the lower part of abdomen of the patient and putting a new kidney inside it. Just above the font of hip bone, kidney will be placed into the left or right side of lower abdomen. The blood vessels of newly transplanted kidney are connected with existing blood vessels and urine tube is connected with the bladder of the patient.
