Transplants

• Kidney transplants are a common solution for serious renal (kidney) issues such as kidney failure.
• This procedure involves the transplantation of a healthy kidney from a donor into a person whose kidneys are not functioning effectively.
• The healthy kidney can come from a live donor, often a close relative, or a deceased donor.
• A person can live normally with just one functioning kidney, hence it is possible for a healthy individual to donate a kidney.
• In the transplant process, the failing kidney is usually left where it is and the healthy kidney is added into a different location in the patient’s lower abdomen.
• After the surgery, the recipient needs to take immunosuppressant drugs for their lifetime to prevent their body from rejecting the transplanted organ.
• Kidney transplants are not always successful; the body may reject the new organ or the disease that caused the initial failure could damage the transplanted kidney.
• Transplants are usually the last resort after other treatments, like dialysis, have failed or deemed unsuitable.
• There are ethical considerations with organ donation and transplantation, such as informed consent, allocation of organs, and risk of exploitation.
• Scientific advancements are being made in the field, such as, development of lab-grown kidneys and improvement in immunosuppressant drugs to increase the success rate of kidney transplants.