Transplant Surgery

Getting Ready for Surgery

Once you arrive at the hospital for your transplant, several things need to be done to ready you for the operation. The most important is to be sure you are compatible with the kidney.

Blood will be drawn from your vein to run tests to be sure there have been no changes in you which my affect your safety if you receive a transplant. We will also test your blood against the kidney you will potentially receive. This test will take four to six hours. If there is an incompatibility, the transplant cannot be safely performed because you would immediately reject the new kidney. Should the test show that you cannot safely receive the kidney, you will be discharged and will need to await another opportunity when a kidney might be compatible.

Other tests which will need to be done on admission include a chest X-ray and a heart tracing or EKG. You will need to begin new medications to help prevent rejection of your new organ at this time.

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