Becoming a living kidney donor

Living donor kidney transplants often yield better results and can reduce the wait time for kidney recipients. Deciding to donate a kidney can be a gift of life for the recipient.

If the living donor is a blood relative with a genetic match, the risk of rejection is decreased.

Advocate's paired kidney donor exchange program allows donor/recipient pairs with opposing blood types and other incompatibility issues to be matched with another pair where the donor kidneys can be exchanged.

Your multidisciplinary team of highly trained specialists and support staff includes:

• Transplant surgeons
• Transplant nephrologists
• Transplant coordinators
• Independent donor advocates
• Psychologists
• Registered dieticians
• Social workers
• Financial coordinators

Prior to surgery, you must undergo tests to evaluate your overall health. These tests can include:

• Blood tests
• Chest x-ray
• Colonoscopy
• Computed tomography (CT) scan of the abdomen and pelvis
• Electrocardiogram
• Mammogram
• Pap smear
• Stress test
• Urine tests

Ideal kidney donors are healthy adults between the ages of 18 and 65, who have two functioning kidneys. Some donors may be excluded for the following reasons:

• Active smoker
• Alcohol/substance abuse
• Autoimmune disease, such as lupus
• Diabetes
• Heart and lung disease
• Hypertension
• Kidney disease, including recurrent kidney stones
• Obesity
• Presence of an active infection, such as HIV
• Recent malignancy
• Untreated psychiatric illness

Once you have made the decision to become a living kidney donor, a series of mandatory tests are performed to determine if you are eligible to donate.

If all tests show that you are a suitable donor, one final study to assess your kidney anatomy is required. The donor surgery and kidney transplant surgery may then be scheduled for the earliest appropriate time for the donor and the recipient.

Your hospital stay will last about 24 hours. Although many donors feel well enough to go home the same day, we monitor donors overnight.

Most people will live a long and healthy life after donating a kidney. The remaining kidney grows bigger and does the work of both kidneys. Donors have just a slightly increased risk for high blood pressure and kidney failure, but this affects a low number of donors.

The donor is not responsible for the cost of the surgery, including the pre-operative evaluation, surgery, hospital stay, outpatient transplant center visits, or any other associated medical treatment. These costs are paid by the recipient or the recipient's insurance company.

The only costs you may incur include time off work and transportation to the hospital for testing, donation surgery and follow-up visits to the transplant center. Most people are able to return to work after two to three weeks, depending on personal recovery and type of work performed.

Yes. We stay in touch with all of our donors to ensure they are doing well on a periodic basis for at least two years following surgery.

The surgery, or nephrectomy, can be performed one of two ways: laparoscopically or using microinvasive procedures. Both options are minimally invasive, reducing recovery times, scarring and pain.

• Laparoscopic nephrectomy: Surgeons place a camera and surgical instruments through three tiny incisions in the abdomen. Another incision, measuring two to three inches, is made to remove the kidney. You are able to return home within one day following the surgery.
• Microinvasive donor nephrectomy: Surgeons remove the kidney through a single two- to three-inch incision. This procedure requires less time in the operating room and allows you to go home the same day or the following day.