Kidney Transplant: What You Need to Know Before Surgery

Getting a kidney transplant surgery can be a life-changing experience, and you must know what to expect. Kidney transplants are one of the most common organ transplants, accounting for more than 70% of all organ transplants. A kidney transplant will help you live an active and healthy lifestyle, but it’s not without its risks. The success rate for kidney transplants is about 95%, meaning fewer than 5% of people who get a kidney transplant will have complications. When you’re preparing for your surgery, make sure that you ask your doctor about all the possible side effects and complications so you can be as prepared as possible. Life after a kidney transplant is usually much better than before surgery, but there are still some things that you need to be aware of.

For example, many people experience weight gain after their surgery because they’re no longer on dialysis or other treatments that are keeping them from gaining weight. This can lead to problems like high blood pressure and diabetes if not managed properly with diet and exercise. You’ll also want to ensure you keep up with your follow-up appointments so your doctor can monitor how well your body is accepting the new organ. 

Surgical Procedure of Kidney Transplant 

At the beginning of the surgical procedure of kidney transplant, you’ll first meet with members of your transplant team to talk through what to expect during and after your surgery. You’ll also have plenty of time to ask questions. When it comes time for your surgery, here are some things that are likely to happen:

An intravenous (IV) line will be placed in your arm or hand. An IV helps keep fluids flowing through your body during surgery.

You’ll be given general anesthesia so that you can rest and not feel anything during the procedure. It will be administered through an IV line or gas mask and put into effect shortly after arriving at the operating room. You’ll wake up in a recovery room once the procedure is done.

Renal Transplant Procedure

A renal transplant is a surgical procedure where a healthy kidney from a donor is placed in your body to replace a failing kidney. In kidney transplant procedures, there are two types of donors such as living donors and deceased donors. A healthy individual who donates one of their kidneys is known as a living donor. A kidney is harvested from a deceased person known as a deceased donor.

The Renal transplant surgery typically involves three steps include:

• Pre-operative Evaluation
• Surgery
• Recovery 

 Post – Operative period of a Kidney Transplant Surgery

In most cases, patients can go home after spending five days in the hospital following their surgery. There will be several follow-up appointments within the first few months after the procedure. After that point, annual checkups should suffice for monitoring purposes.

During kidney transplant procedures, the donated kidney is placed in your lower abdomen and connected to the blood vessels in your pelvis and the ureter (tube) leading to your bladder, so urine can drain into your bladder. Your kidneys usually are not removed unless they are causing severe problems such as uncontrollable high blood pressure, recurrent kidney infection, or kidney stones.

The donated kidney starts working right away or within a few days. You’ll need to take medicines that suppress your immune system (immunosuppressants) to help prevent your body from rejecting the new kidney. This puts you at risk of infection and cancer, especially lymphoma, which is why you will be monitored closely in the months after transplantation. There might recurrence of previous diseases that lead to native kidney failure, which will be discussed with you by your treating doctor in detail.

You should be able to resume most normal activities within about six weeks of surgery. You will need to attend regular follow-up appointments so your healthcare provider can check how well your new kidney is working and how well it is tolerated by your body. You may need several blood tests each month at first; however, this number may decrease as time goes on. Regency Healthcare in Kanpur will provide you with the right precautions, the best care, and aftercare for your kidney transplant. To know more about Regency Health, check out our website and book an appointment quickly!