Before the transplant, the patient will be put under general anesthesia—they will be asleep for the entire procedure. The surgeon then makes an incision in the recipient’s abdomen and places the donated kidney inside. The new kidney is then connected to the recipient’s blood vessels and bladder. Once this is done, the surgeon closes the incision. The patient’s original kidneys are usually left in place unless there is a medical reason to remove them. The operation typically takes three to five hours.
Kidney transplantation is a fairly common surgical procedure, with over 20,000 performed in the United States every year. This type of surgery generally has a high success rate and a low rate of complications. Kidney transplants from living donors generally last two to three times as long as those from deceased donors. Furthermore, those facilitated by the National Kidney Registry (NKR) have superior outcomes at three, five and seven years compared to average U.S. living donor transplant outcomes. Having the largest donor pool allows the NKR to find better matches for recipients.