What are the sources of kidney transplantation?
Disease description:
My friend's father suffers from severe kidney disease and needs a kidney transplant, but they have been unable to find a donor organ. I would like to ask, what are the sources for kidney transplants?
Doctor's answer (1)
Dr. Yang Guang
Kidney transplantation is one of the effective treatments for end-stage renal disease, and its donor sources are mainly divided into two categories: living donors and deceased donors.
1. Living donors: A living donor refers to a healthy individual who voluntarily donates one kidney to a patient undergoing kidney transplantation. Since normal individuals have two kidneys, and each kidney can independently perform the function of excreting metabolic waste, a person can maintain a normal quality of life even with only one kidney remaining. Living donors can be the patient's immediate family members, extended family members, or even compassionate individuals who are not related. Advantages of living donor kidney transplantation include greater flexibility in scheduling surgery, reduced waiting time for the recipient, and generally better function of the transplanted kidney compared to those from deceased donors, resulting in higher transplant success rates and fewer postoperative complications.
2. Deceased donor kidneys: This refers to kidneys donated by citizens after death for use in kidney transplantation. These kidneys typically come from donors who have died due to brain death or cardiac death and who expressed a willingness to donate their organs while alive. The procurement of kidneys from deceased donors requires strict medical evaluation and legal procedures to ensure the quality and safety of the donated organs.
