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Kidney transplant

A kidney transplant involves one healthy kidney being placed in the body to carry out the functions of the two failed kidneys.

The source of the kidney in the UK is from either:

- a live related donor or

- a live unrelated donor or

- a person who has died (cadaveric donor)

The recipient's blood group and tissue type must match that of the donor to prevent organ rejection. The donor must have sufficient function in their kidneys to support a kidney donation and retain full function of the kidney that remains.

For information on self pay package pricing and terms and conditions agreement please contact our Finance Department on 020 7616 7707.

Who is a suitable recipient?	Potential recipients must either be approaching end-stage renal failure or already established in a stable clinical condition on dialysis. They should not have been previously transplanted or be heavily sensitised. Patients with significant co-morbidity including hepatitis B, hepatitis C and HIV are excluded from this package.
Who is a suitable donor?	Only closely related family donors are acceptable under British Law. This includes full or half parents, mature children (at least 21 years of age), brothers, sisters, uncles, aunts and first cousins. The donor must be physically fit and not receiving medication for a major illness.
How is surgery performed?	The donor nephrectomy is performed laparoscopically which means a smaller incision and more rapid post-operative mobilisation and recovery. If the donor is unsuitable for a laparoscopic nephrectomy then the standard open surgical procedure will be performed.
What information is needed before a patient can be accepted?	The following tests need to be performed on the donor/recipient pair and the results reviewed by one of our Consultant Nephrologists at The London Clinic before a patient can be accepted for transplantation. HLA Tissue typing and direct crossmatch on donor and recipient must be supplied, together with details of the family relationship. It may be necessary to repeat the tissue typing and direct crossmatch to confirm the claimed family relationship as by Law. Recipient - full blood count - electrolytes and urea - liver function tests - calcium - phosphate - blood glucose - hepatitis B and C and HIV serology - chest x-ray and ECG - mid stream urine - blood group and renal ultrasound Donor - same as the recipeint and - bilateral renal arteriogram or MRA

Our experts	See our kidney transplant consultants

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