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Definition
By Mayo Clinic staffA kidney transplant is a surgical procedure to place a healthy kidney from a donor into a person whose kidneys no longer function properly.
Your kidneys remove excess fluid and waste from your blood. When your kidneys lose their filtering ability, dangerous levels of fluid and waste accumulate in your body — a condition known as kidney failure. A kidney transplant is often the best treatment for kidney failure.
Only one donated kidney is needed to replace two failed kidneys, making living-donor kidney transplantation an option. If a compatible living donor isn't available for a kidney transplant, your name may be placed on a kidney transplant waiting list to receive a kidney from a deceased donor. The wait could be a year or more.
- Kidney transplant. National Kidney Foundation. http://www.kidney.org/atoz/atozprint.cfm?id=86. Accessed July 12, 2009.
- Punch JD. Organ transplantation. In: Doherty GM, et al. Current Surgical Diagnosis & Treatment. 12th ed. New York, N.Y.: McGraw-Hill Companies; 2006. http://www.accessmedicine.com/content.aspx?aID=2066708. Accessed July 12, 2009.
- Kidney failure: Choosing a treatment that's right for you. National Kidney and Urologic Diseases Information Clearinghouse. http://kidney.niddk.nih.gov/kudiseases/pubs/choosingtreatment/. Accessed July 13, 2009.
- Post TW, et al. Patient survival after renal transplantation. http://www.uptodate.com/home/index.html. Accessed June 25, 2009.
- Humar A, et al. Transplantation. In: Brunicardi FC, et al. Schwartz's Principles of Surgery. 8th ed. New York, N.Y.: McGraw-Hill Companies; 2005. http://www.accessmedicine.com/content.aspx?aID=799511. Accessed July 13, 2009.
- Getting a new kidney. American Society of Transplantation. http://www.a-s-t.org/files/pdf/patient_education/english/AST-EdBroNEWKIDNEY-ENG.pdf. Accessed July 13, 2009.
- Coping with the physical side effects of anti-rejection medications. American Society of Transplantation. http://www.healthytransplant.com/index.php?q=quality_of_life/coping_with_the_physical_side_effect_of_anti-rejection_medications. Accessed July 13, 2009.
- Morgan GE, et al. Anesthesia for genitourinary surgery. In Morgan GE. Clinical Anesthesiology. 4th ed. New York, N.Y.: McGraw-Hill Companies; 2006. http://www.accessmedicine.com/content.aspx?aID=893115. Accessed July 12, 2009.
- Shapiro R. Overview of the surgery of deceased donor renal transplantation. http://www.uptodate.com/home/index.html. Accessed July 13, 2009.
- OPTN/SRTR annual report: Adjusted graft survival by year of transplant at 3 months, 1 year, 3 years, 5 years and 10 years, living donor kidney transplants. Scientific Registry of Transplant Recipients. http://www.ustransplant.org/annual_reports/current/509c_ki.htm. Accessed July 14, 2009.
- OPTN/SRTR annual report: Adjusted graft survival by year of transplant at 3 months, 1 year, 3 years, 5 years and 10 years, deceased donor non-ECD kidney transplants. Scientific Registry of Transplant Recipients. http://www.ustransplant.org/annual_reports/current/509a_ki.htm. Accessed July 14, 2009.
