What To Expect

You will have to stay in the hospital for several days after you receive your new kidney. In some cases, it may take time for your new kidney to produce urine. So you may have to receive dialysis and take medicines, such as diuretics, that help your new kidney get rid of excess water and salt from your body.

After the surgery you will have to take medicines to suppress your immune system. These medicines are used to help keep your body from rejecting your new kidney. You will need to take these medicines for the rest of your life.

During the first weeks to months after your surgery, your body may try to reject your new kidney. This is called acute rejection and occurs in about 1 out of 10 people in the first year after transplant. Most of the time, acute rejection can be treated with antirejection (immunosuppressive) medicines.^{footnote 1}

Chronic rejection (also called chronic allograft failure) is a process of gradual, progressive loss of kidney function and can occur many months to several years after your surgery. Experts don’t fully understand what causes chronic rejection. There is no treatment for chronic rejection. Most people go back on dialysis or have another transplant.

How Well It Works

If you have severe chronic kidney disease and choose to have a kidney transplant, you may live longer than if you choose only to treat your kidney disease with dialysis alone.

In the past, transplants using a kidney from a first-degree relative, such as your father, mother, brother, or sister, were the most successful. But with modern antirejection drugs, kidneys from people you are not related to work well, too. Transplants from living donors or from deceased donors can succeed.

What To Think About

Kidney transplant may be a better treatment for you than dialysis, because survival rates are better after transplant. You will also be able to live a more normal life, because you won’t have to have dialysis. Although a kidney transplant is an expensive procedure, it may actually be less costly than long-term dialysis treatments.

There is often a long wait before you receive a donor kidney. And there is no guarantee that the transplant will be successful. Fewer complications occur in people who are good candidates for surgery and who do not have other serious medical conditions, such as unstable coronary artery disease or cancer, that may limit their life expectancy.

Not everyone is able to have a kidney transplant. You will not usually have a kidney transplant if you have an active infection or another life-threatening disease, such as cancer or significant heart or lung disease.

After having a kidney transplant, you will have to take medicines that suppress your immune system (antirejection or immunosuppressive medicines) to help prevent your body from rejecting the new kidney. You will need to take these medicines for the rest of your life. Because these medicines weaken your immune system, you will have an increased risk for serious infections. There is also the chance that your body may still reject your new kidney even if you take these medicines. If this happens, you will have to start dialysis and possibly wait for another kidney transplant.

Immunosuppressive medicines also increase your risk of other diseases, such as skin cancer and lymphoma. You have a greater risk for diabetes, high blood pressure, heart disease, cataracts, and inflammation of the liver (cirrhosis) if you are taking these medicines.