Below are some frequently asked questions about living donor kidney transplants. Click on this link for financial information for organ donors. We have also created a fact sheet that may be helpful with Tips on Finding A Living Donor. If we can be of further help in answering your questions about living kidney donation, please call 612-625-5115 or 800-328-5465 for a confidential phone consultation.

What is a living donor kidney transplant?
Why is a living donor kidney better than a kidney from someone who died?
How common are living donor kidney transplants?
What are the advantages to using a living donor?
What are the results for living donor kidney transplants?
What is a positive cross-match and how does it affect donation?
What if I want to donate my kidney to someone I know, but I am not a good match?
Whose decision is it to donate?
How is a donor evaluation conducted?
What is surgery like for donating a kidney?
Who pays for the donation?
How will donating a kidney affect me for the rest of my life?
How long is the recovery after surgery?

What is a living donor kidney transplant?
During a living donor kidney transplant, a healthy kidney it taken out of a living person. It is then used to replace the function of the unhealthy kidney of another person (the unhealthy kidney is not actually removed). Afterwards, both the living organ donor and the recipient can have normal, active lives. In fact, a recent study at the University of Minnesota found that living kidney donors often lead healthier lives than other people and have an excellent quality of life. Click this link to learn more about the New England Journal of Medicine study .

Our living donor kidney transplant program allows friends, relatives or even an anonymous person to donate one of their kidneys to help someone in need of a kidney. Organ donors provide an important gift because it helps give another person a second chance at life. In recent years, patients have received almost as many kidneys from living donors in the United States as from deceased donors.

Why is a living donor kidney better than a kidney from someone who died?
Because there is a shortage of donor organs from people who have died, many patients must wait a long time for a transplant. To expand the donor pool, the University of Minnesota Medical Center offers living donor transplants. Living donor kidney transplants offer better outcomes for kidney patients. There is less chance of rejection and a greater chance of long-term success. Donors and kidney patients do not need to be relatives—they don’t even need to know each other.

How common are living donor kidney transplants?
Kidney transplant is the most common type of living donor transplant. The first such transplant in the United States was done in 1954, when a 23-year-old man received a kidney from his twin brother. Since then, there have been thousands of living donor kidney transplants across the nation.

Surgeons at the University of Minnesota Medical Center and University of Minnesota Amplatz Children's Hospital have been transplanting kidneys from living donors since the early 1960s. We have performed more living donor kidney transplants than any other center in the world. Of the 200 kidneys we transplant each year, more than half come from living donors.

What are the advantages to using a living donor?
Most of the time, someone who needs an kidney transplant has a much better chance of living a longer healthy life if he or she can find a living donor. There are several reasons, among them:

• The person with unhealthy kidneys does not need to wait for an organ from the transplant list. This can take five years or longer. Many people die before they receive an organ from the transplant list.
• A living donor transplant takes the patient off the transplant waiting list. This shortens the wait for everyone else on the list.
• The person with kidney disease may get a transplant before having to go on dialysis. Dialysis harms the patient’s health, restricts his or her diet and causes a great deal of stress to the whole family.
• The kidney is placed in the patient as soon as it is removed from the living donor. It goes without a blood supply for only a short time. This improves the chances that the kidney will work the way it should. A kidney from someone who has died must be stored for several hours before it is transplanted.
• The transplant can be done when both the donor and the patient are in the best physical and emotional health possible. If patients have surgery when they are very sick, the transplant is less likely to be successful.
• Living organ donation gives better results for the recipient. Healthier recipients have a better chance at a successful transplant outcome.

What are the results for living donor kidney transplants?
A kidney from a living donor offers better results than a kidney from someone who has died. The kidney often starts working right away in the operating room. An organ from someone who has died may not work right away— sometimes dialysis is needed for a few weeks after the transplant. The recipient is also less likely to reject a living donor kidney, and the kidney may last longer.

In our experience at University of Minnesota Medical Center, we have had kidney donations from blood relatives, spouses, friends, co-workers, acquaintances and anonymous volunteers between ages 18 and 75.

Donors don’t need to be biologically related to the recipient to have an excellent result because medical advances have produced effective medications to prevent rejection.

What is a positive cross-match and how does it affect donation?
Immunoglobulin (IVIG) lowers the Panel Reactive Antibody (PRA) measurement in recipients who are highly sensitized and have difficulty finding suitable organ matches. IVIG therapy opens the door for these patients to have previously positive cross-matched donors reconsidered for living donation. If you have been turned down as a donor because of a positive cross-match, you should ask a transplant coordinator about IVIG therapy. There is also a possibilty that a donor-recipient pair with a positive cross match can find another pair in the same situation through the Paired Exchange program (read more about this below).

What if I want to donate my kidney to someone I know, but I am not a good match?
A " paired exchange " option is available through University of Minnesota Medical Centerfor a living donor exchange. Sometimes a donor is not compatible with the person to whom he or she wants to donate.  Through the paired exchange program, that donor could agree to donate to a different, matching recipient. In exchange, the donor's loved one then gets a living donor kidney from someone in the exact same situation. Both recipients get a living donor kidney--through paired exchanged donors. This kind of exchange can be discussed with a transplant coordinator.

Whose decision is it to donate?
The decision to donate an organ is serious and personal. Only you can make the decision after weighing the risks and benefits. Potential donors must voluntarily contact a transplant center and ask to speak with a donor coordinator about donation.

How is a donor evaluation conducted?
A team of medical specialists is dedicated to expertly screen donors. Donors are given detailed information so they can take the time to carefully consider what is involved. The donation experience is completely confidential and separate from the recipient’s.

As a donor, you must be physically and psychologically healthy to assure you can safely donate. You must feel comfortable about your decision. If at any time you change your mind, the team will help you make a confidential withdrawal from the procedure.

What is surgery like for donating a kidney?
Most often at University of Minnesota Medical Center, a kidney is removed using minimally invasive surgery, called laparoscopic surgery, which uses very small incisions and a telescopic viewing device. More recent advances in minimally invasive surgery include the DaVinci® robot as a surgical tool. The first in Minnesota to use DaVinci, University of Minnesota surgeons use the robot as an extension of the surgeon’s hands. This allows intricate work to be performed under high magnification. It contributes to the advantages of minimally invasive surgery: less pain, smaller scars and quicker recovery time.

Who pays for the donation?
There is no cost to you as the donor for required medical tests and surgery. The transplant program does not routinely cover transportation, lodging, lost wages or other non-medical expenses. Sometimes, donors may be financially eligible for a donor grant to help pay some of these expenses. It is against federal law for a donor to be paid for his or her donation.

How will donating a kidney affect me for the rest of my life?
Physically, you should expect no long-term problems, though there are risks associated with any surgery and these are carefully reviewed with you. Psychologically, previous donors have told us that donating was one of the most meaningful experiences of their lives, and they were glad to have had the opportunity to help another. In addition, a recent study at University of Minnesota showed that kidney donors often lead healthier lives than other people and have an excellent quality of life. To learn more about this study, click here .

At University of Minnesota Medical Center, we are committed to long-term follow up of all our living donors. The United Network for Organ Sharing requires that we follow up with donors for at least two years. We also follow our donors over time to be able to monitor long-term outcomes. 

How long is the recovery after surgery?
The hospital stay is two to four days, and recovery takes about four to six weeks. But, some may return to normal activities earlier.