StemCell Therapy

Kidney transplant (also called renal transplant) is the placement of a donor kidney into a patient with end-stage renal disease (ESRD).Kidney transplants are classified as deceased-donor (formerly called cadaveric donor) or living-donor transplants depending on the source of the donor organ. Living-donor renal transplants are further characterized as genetically related (living-related) or non-related (living-unrelated) transplants, depending on whether a biological relationship exists between the donor and recipient.

The first diseased-donor kidney transplant in the United States was performed in 1950 on Ruth Tucker, a 44-year-old woman with polycystic kidney disease (PKD), at Little Company of Mary Hospitalin Evergreen Park, Illinois. Although the donated kidney was rejected ten months later because no immunosuppressive therapy (anti-rejection medication)was available at the time (the development of effective anti-rejection drugs was years away), the intervening time gave Tuckers remaining kidney time to recover and she lived another five years.

The first kidney transplant between living patients was undertaken in 1954 in Boston and Paris. The Boston transplant, performed on December 23, 1954, at Brigham Hospital was performed by Joseph Murray, J. Hartwell Harrison, John P. Merrill and others.The procedure was done between identical twinsto eliminate any problems from an immunereaction. For this and later work, Dr. Murray received the Nobel Prize for Medicinein 1990. The recipient lived for eight years after the transplant.

The first kidney transplantation in the United Kingdom occurred in 1960, when Michael Woodruffperformed one between identical twins in Edinburgh.Until the 1964 introduction of anti-rejection medications to prevent and treat acute rejection, deceased-donor transplants were not performed.

Kidney was the easiest organ to transplant: tissue typing was simple, the organ was relatively easy to remove and implant, live donors could be used without difficulty and in the event of failure, kidney dialysiswas available (dialysis had been in use since the 1940s).

The development of increasingly effective immunosuppressive therapies has increased the average life of a transplanted kidney to about 20 years, after which the recipient may be considered for a second transplant or require regular dialysis. Anti-rejection drugs suppress the recipientss immune system to keep it from attacking the transplanted organ as an invader, and must be taken for life to prevent rejection. Suppressing the immune system long term, however, makes the recipient vulnerable to infections and cancers that would not otherwise be a problem. In addition, the drugs themselves have side effects ranging from osteoporosis, appearance changes, cardiovascular disease and kidney damage. The cost of drugs and treatment generally run between $25,000 and $45,000 per year for the life of the patient.

The indication for kidney transplantation is end-stage renal disease(ESRD), regardless of the primary cause.Diabetes is the most common cause of kidney transplantation, accounting for approximately 25% of transplants in the U.S. The majority of renal transplant recipients are on some form of dialysis atthe time of transplantation. Individuals with chronic renal failure who have a living donor available, however, may undergo pre-emptive transplantation before dialysis is needed.

Common diseases leading to ESRD include:

Find clinical trials here: Kidney transplant clinical trials

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Kidney Transplant | Stem Cell Foundation

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