Transplant process

You will first meet with a transplant surgeon, nephrologist and nurse coordinators who will thoroughly review your medical history. Depending on your condition, you may also meet a social worker, dietitian and other members of our multidisciplinary care team.

Time is also devoted to:

• A physical exam
• Reviewing the informed consent for transplant evaluation
• Explaining the transplant evaluation, including diagnostic tests and blood work that will be ordered
• Reviewing the organ waitlisting process, surgery and lifestyle expectations after transplant
• Reviewing the transplant options of living vs. deceased donors
• Discussing the commitment and support needed to take care of a kidney after transplant
• Answering your questions

If a relative, spouse, partner, friend or an anonymous person is willing to donate a kidney, this potential living donor will also need to meet with the transplant team and undergo a similar evaluation as seen in the following steps. As a living donor, you must be found medically fit to donate and undergo surgery. You will also need to demonstrate compatibility through blood typing and special genetic testing.

Our transplant team will recommend various diagnostic tests and blood work to help evaluate your eligibility for transplant. These tests will allow our team to assess other organ systems to ensure you can successfully undergo transplantation and have a good quality of life. Our nurse coordinators and central scheduling staff will arrange the testing needed to complete the evaluation. For your convenience, Advocate offers a diagnostic testing schedule that can complete this part of the evaluation quickly.

Depending on the results of the diagnostic testing, you may be asked to see specialists from the multidisciplinary team to address other organ-specific issues found during the above testing.

After you are deemed eligible for transplant by our multidisciplinary team, you will meet with our nurse coordinators to undergo education about the transplant process and give consent for listing. If a live donor is available, you are scheduled for surgery for a living donor transplant. If you do not have this option, you are placed on the national organ transplant waitlist through the United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS). While on the waitlist, monthly blood work and annual check-ups are performed to monitor your condition.

Living donor transplant: Once a living donor is found fit for surgery and is compatible with you, the surgery is electively scheduled. Transplant surgeons at Advocate Health Care use laparoscopic and robotic surgical techniques to remove the kidney from the living donor, making it possible for the donor to return to normal activities quickly after surgery and resulting in less pain and scarring.

Non-living donors: This surgery is a non-elective surgery, meaning the surgery can happen suddenly and with little notification. Non-living donors are people who have died and donated their organs based on their wishes either expressed legally or based on family discussion or decision. The non-living donor undergoes extensive medical testing within a 10- to 24-hour period.

Most kidney recipients are able to get out of bed the day after surgery and return home within three to five days. The nurse coordinators, dietitian and clinical pharmacist will provide education on lifestyle changes, medications, and signs/symptoms of rejection and infection in order to provide the best care for you and your transplanted kidney.

Upon discharge, you and the living donor will follow up with members of our transplant team to monitor your progress as you both resume normal activities. Our transplant team will work closely with your referring physician to ensure your care is coordinated and thorough.

Our office is located next to the Advocate Christ Medical Center's main entrance in the Physician's Pavilion. We are on the ground level, Suite 112.

To schedule an appointment or speak to a nurse clinician, please call 708-684-7100.

We ask you to bring someone with you to this and following visits. This person should be someone who is your main caregiver and will be helping you before and potentially after your transplant.

Please bring the following:

• State ID or driver's license
• Insurance card
• Current medication list
• Any medical records you have, including written information on your past medical history
• Referring physician, address and phone number
• Referral (if your insurance is an HMO)
• List of questions you may have

The initial visit can take up to four hours. Most of this time is spent reviewing your health history; providing education about the risk, benefits and expectation of kidney transplantation; and addressing all your questions.