You have just learned that you or a close family member needs a kidney transplant.
If this is your first exposure to the subject, it is natural to feel fear of the unknown. Most people are not familiar with kidney disease, dialysis, and transplants, and therefore the lack of information may cause fear.
However, this fear has little basis in reality. A kidney transplant is a much simpler process than many believe. Thanks to medical advancements and extensive accumulated experience, thousands of kidney transplants are performed worldwide every year, and most are completely successful.
In more than 95% of cases, the transplant is successful, and the patient returns to an almost normal life, with very few dietary and lifestyle restrictions.
Kidney transplants are performed in patients with kidney failure, and a successful transplant frees patients from the need for dialysis and gives them a quality of life almost identical to that of a healthy person. Since transplants have become available, kidney patients are no longer incurable, and can see the light at the end of the tunnel .
During the surgery, a kidney is taken from a living or deceased donor and transferred into the recipient’s body, where it takes on the role of the original kidney. The transplanted kidney does not replace the existing kidney, meaning there is usually no need to remove the recipient’s own kidneys. People are born with a pair of kidneys located on the sides of the lower back. The transplanted kidney is placed in the lower abdomen area.
This is a complex medical procedure, as the transplant itself is not enough to guarantee restoration of the patient’s health. Their body must accept the new organ, and naturally, the body tries to reject the transplant, treating it as a foreign body. To prevent this, the immune system is artificially suppressed. In a few cases, the transplant is unsuccessful, and the patient returns to dialysis treatments. In very rare cases, a patient might even lose his or her life as a result of an infection that the weakened immune system cannot handle.
The wait for a kidney transplant from a deceased donor in Israel is very long, currently lasting an average of five to seven years, depending on blood type and other factors. Every year, the waiting list grows even longer.
Although it is possible to undergo a kidney transplant from a deceased donor abroad, mainly in the third world, this is not possible for all patients. The health condition of some does not allow for travel, and others are unsuitable for a transplant in these countries due to antibodies in their blood or other medical considerations. Additionally, the standard of medicine in these countries is significantly lower compared to Israel, and so is the success rate of transplants.
The recommended option is a kidney transplant from a living donor – a family member, an acquaintance, or an altruistic donor.
The success rates of kidney transplants are high, and are constantly improving with medical advancements and accumulated experience.
For 9 out of 10 recipients of a living donor kidney, the kidney will continue to function in the first year, and for 8 out of 10, it will also function for the next five years. For about half of the recipients, the kidney will continue to function even after 25 years. A kidney from a deceased donor will usually cease to function after about 10 years.
Transplanted kidneys can function for many years, but as mentioned, at a certain point, the body rejects the kidney. This does not happen overnight; it is a process called “chronic rejection,” after which the patient needs to return to dialysis treatments.
