Surgery
Kidney Transplant
Surgery for either recipient or donor can take three
to four hours. Surgery usually requires no blood products for either recipient
or donor. The transplanted kidney is placed in the lower abdomen and the native
kidneys remain in place (see if diagram can be attached).
Recipients who
have living donors are scheduled at the same time for surgery and have to come
into the transplant center five to seven days prior to their surgery for the
preop labs, education and preparation.
Recipients who are on the UNOS
waiting list will be called and given instructions from the on-call coordinator
as to how to proceed (i.e. no eating or drinking, wait at home or come into
hospital, recent illness, last dialysis, current PRA sample in lab for final
crossmatch test, etc.)
Potential surgical complications can include
technical complications, bleeding, wound infection and risks associated with
anesthesia.
Hospitalization stays range from four to seven days.
