Kidney Transplant

This is the procedure involving transfer of kidney from a healthy person to another who is need for one owing to an irreversible damage to it leading to total cessation of its functions. The person from whom the kidney is taken is called a donor and the one who receives is the recipient. Currently two major problems are associated with renal transplant. It is difficult to find a matching donor. As common with every organ transplant, the body may reject the new organ.

What makes it necessary

Dialysis procedure substitutes the renal functions and need to be continued life long in case of people with chronic renal damage. A renal transplant avoids the difficulty of undergoing regular dialysis. In terms of functionality, a renal transplant is always advantageous over the dialysis. Research has proved that a renal transplant helps a patient live longer in comparison to dialysis. Moreover a transplant improves the way of living. The following conditions call for an immediate renal transplant:

• Renal damage due to chronic diabetes.
• Renal damage due to severe hypertension.
• Glomerulonephritis (a condition of renal inflammation),
• Polycystic kidney disease (a genetic disorder featured by large sized kidneys due to presence of cysts)
• Congenital abnormalities in which kidneys are not completely formed.
• Systemic lupus erythematosus (an autoimmune disorder in which the body’s immune system regards it as foreign tissues),

The kidney to be transplanted is called as a graft and is usually attached to the recipient through an incision in the lower abdomen. It is then connected to the artery and vein in the leg and ureter is attached to the bladder. The recipient needs to take medicines like immunosuppressants (to prevent rejection), medicines to lessen the side effects of immunosuppressants and medicines to control hypertension.

Immunosupressants prevent autoimmune response of the body towards the new kidney. Usually a combination of these drugs is needed. These drugs are taken orally and the dosage differs from one to another. The commonly used immunosuppressants are Prednisolone, Ciclosporin, Tacrolimus, Azathioprine, and Mycophenolate.

Antibiotics are taken to provide additional protection as the body will be in a compromised immune status. Aciclovir , Amphotericin lozenges, Co-trimoxazole and Isoniazid are the commonly used antibiotics.

ACE inhibitors like captopril, enalapril etc need to be administered to manage elevated blood pressure.

Recovery

Though the transplant is a foremost surgery, the patient may get discharged within two weeks according to the body stability. The initial one month consists of several follow up visits to monitor the health status. By the third month, most of the patients will be able to be back to a normal life. Regular blood examinations can monitor the proper renal functioning. The recent medical advancements have made it possible to reduce the autoimmune body reaction and even tolerate the immuno compromised state. Currently research is being done on generating kidney from the stem cells