When the kidneys are not working efficiently, waste products and fluid build-up in the blood. Treatment options for patients with Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD) stage 5 or end-stage renal disease (ESRD) are either lifetime dialysis or kidney transplantation. Whenever feasible, kidney transplantation is the treatment of choice for such patients.

More than 7,500 kidney transplants are performed in India every year. Successful kidney transplantation in India offers many advantages:

• Better quality of life: A kidney transplant offers far better degree of renal replacement therapy compared to dialysis. Patients are able to achieve a near-normal and active lifestyle with more stamina, energy and productivity.
• Freedom from dialysis: Since no dialysis is needed, patients save a lot of time, energy and avoid the complications and inconvenience associated with doing dialysis Lesser diet and fluid restrictions as compared to dialysis patients
• Longer life expectancy: Kidney transplantation adds many more years to one’s life expectancy
• Cost-saving: While kidney transplantation may involve more cost upfront, many research studies have proven that in the long run, kidney transplantation saves a lot of money as compared to staying on dialysis.

What are the risks associated with getting a kidney transplant?

• Risks associated with any major surgery like bleeding, infection, the reaction from anesthesia medicines, blood clots in legs or going to the lung, etc
• Increased risk of infections like urinary tract infections, pneumonia and viruses like BK & CMV because of taking immunosuppressive drugs
• Slightly higher risk of cancers (malignancies)
• Need for taking lifelong medicines and getting regular blood tests done.

When should a kidney transplant not be done?

• A kidney transplant should not be performed in situations like AKI (acute kidney injury) – when some recovery of kidney function is expected, active malignancy (cancer) anywhere in the body, ongoing infection or sepsis, active heart problems like severe heart failure or blockage in blood vessels, severe peripheral vascular disease, severe psychiatric illnesses, antibodies against donor kidney or positive crossmatch.
• Your doctors (nephrologists and urologists) will run a number of tests for the patient and potential kidney donor to make sure they are medically fit for the procedure.

The expert team of doctors at Metro Heart Institute with Multispecialty, Faridabad has extensive experience in the field of kidney transplantation. Complicated cases like blood group incompatible transplants, pediatric transplants, second or third-time transplants, transplant after nephrectomy, and transplantation with a lot of antibodies (sensitized patient) are handled efficiently and effectively.