So what is it? A kidney transplant is the transfer of a healthy kidney from a donor (they may be a living donor or one that has passed away) into the body of another person which has little or no kidney activity.
Kidneys are often recognised as two bean-shaped organs located on each side of the body that play a vital role in the body, filtering waste products from the blood before converting them into urine. The loss of kidney function is known as chronic kidney disease or kidney failure and can be potentially dangerous if waste products begin to accumulate in the blood.
Dialysis replicates the function of kidneys by a blood filtering procedure, but this is both inconvenient and time-consuming. Therefore, kidney transplants are the preferred choice of treatment for end-stage chronic kidney disease.
The biggest risk when receiving a donated kidney is that the body’s immune system may recognise the new kidney as a foreign object, thus resulting in the immune system destroying the kidney (rejection). So to help prevent this doctors must look at suitable donors.
The biggest risk when receiving a donated kidney is that the body’s immune system may recognise the new kidney as a foreign object, thus resulting in the immune system destroying the kidney (rejection). So to help prevent this doctors must look at suitable donors.
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