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Summary
A kidney transplant is an operation that places a healthy kidney in your body. The transplanted kidney takes over the work of the two kidneys that failed, so you no longer need dialysis.
During a transplant, the surgeon places the new kidney in your lower abdomen and connects the artery and vein of the new kidney to your artery and vein. Often, the new kidney will start making urine as soon as your blood starts flowing through it. But sometimes it takes a few weeks to start working.
Many transplanted kidneys come from donors who have died. Some come from a living family member. The wait for a new kidney can be long.
If you have a transplant, you must take drugs for the rest of your life, to keep your body from rejecting the new kidney.
NIH: National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases
Treatments and Therapies
- Immunosuppressants (Anti-rejection Medicines) (National Kidney Foundation)
Living With
- Diet and Transplantation (National Kidney Foundation)
- Transplants for All (National Kidney Foundation)
Related Issues
- If You Have Kidney Disease, You Need to Get a Flu Shot this Fall (National Kidney Foundation)
- Solitary Kidney (National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases)
- Travel Tips: A Guide for Kidney Patients (National Kidney Foundation)
- Vaccines for Adults with Advanced Chronic Kidney Disease, Kidney Failure, or Kidney Transplant (National Kidney Foundation)
Specifics
- Kidney-Pancreas Transplant (National Kidney Foundation)
Images
- Kidney transplant - series (Medical Encyclopedia) Also in Spanish
Statistics and Research
- Kidney Facts (United Network for Organ Sharing)
- Protein-Based Urine Test Predicts Kidney Transplant Outcomes (National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases)
- The SRTR/OPTN Annual Data Report (Scientific Registry of Transplant Recipients)
Clinical Trials
- ClinicalTrials.gov: Kidney Transplantation (National Institutes of Health)
Journal Articles References and abstracts from MEDLINE/PubMed (National Library of Medicine)
- Article: Effect of an exercise intervention or combined exercise and diet intervention...
- Article: Efficacy and Safety of Bleselumab in Preventing the Recurrence of Primary...
- Article: Combination cell therapy leads to clonal deletion of donor-specific T cells...
- Kidney Transplantation -- see more articles
Reference Desk
- Kidneys and Urinary Tract (For Parents) (Nemours Foundation) Also in Spanish
- Your Kidneys and How They Work (National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases) Also in Spanish
Find an Expert
- National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases
- National Kidney Foundation
- Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network (Health Resources and Services Administration)
Children
- How Do Health Care Professionals Treat Kidney Failure in Children? (National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases)
Women
- Pregnancy and Kidney Disease (National Kidney Foundation)
Patient Handouts
- Kidney transplant (Medical Encyclopedia) Also in Spanish