When your kidneys fail, treatment is required to replace the work your kidneys can no longer do. There are two types of treatment for kidney failures such as dialysis or transplant.
Many people feel that a kidney transplant offers better freedom and a better rate of life than dialysis. In deciding whether this is the best treatment for you, you may find it helpful to talk to people who had transplants already. You also need to speak to your doctor, nurse, and household members.
When Kidney Transplant is Required?
When you get a kidney transplant, a healthy kidney is placed inside your body to do the work your kidneys can no longer do. On the other side, there are fewer limits on what you can eat and drink, but you should follow a heart-healthy diet. Your fitness and energy should improve.
A successful kidney transplant may allow you to live the kind of life you were living before you got a kidney infection. Analyses show that people with kidney transplants live longer than those who remain on dialysis.
Why Kidney Transplant is Required?
A kidney transplant is surgery to place a healthy kidney from a residence or deceased donor into a person whose kidneys no longer function properly. The kidneys are two bean-shaped organs discovered on each side of the backbone just below the rib cage.
Each is about the size of a fist. Their main role is to filter and remove waste, minerals, and fluid from the blood by producing urine. A kidney transplant is usually the treatment of choice for kidney loss, compared with dialysis. A kidney transplant can treat chronic kidney illness or end-stage renal disease to help you feel satisfied and live longer.
Compared with dialysis, kidney transplant is associated with adequate quality of life, lower risk of death, More irregular dietary regulations, and Lower therapy cost.
Finding and Evaluating Kidney Donors
If a matching living donor is not known, your name may be positioned on a kidney transplant waiting list to obtain a kidney from a deceased donor. How long you have to remain for a deceased donor organ depends on the importance of matching or compatibility between you and the contributor, the period on dialysis and on the transplant waitlist, and expected survival post-transplant. Some people get a match within a few months, and others may have to wait for several years.
Who is Eligible for Kidney Transplant?
Kidney patients of all ages from juniors to elders can get a transplant. You must be fit enough to have the operation. You must also be free from cancer and any other infection.
Every individual being considered for transplant will get a full medical and psychosocial evaluation to make sure they are a good candidate for transplant. The evaluation helps find any problems, so they can be corrected before the transplant. For most people, acquiring a kidney transplant can be a good treatment choice.
Factors to consider before surgery
1. Choosing a transplant center
If your doctor suggests a kidney transplant, you will be referred to a transplant center. You are also free to select a transplant center on your own or pick a center from your insurance company’s list of preferred kidney transplant providers.
You need to learn about the number and kind of transplants the center performs each year, Ask about the transplant center’s kidney transplant survival rates, and Compare transplant center statistics through the database carried by the
Scientific Registry of Transplant Recipients and Find out whether the center offers different provider programs that might increase your chances of acquiring a living-donor kidney.
2. Evaluation
After you have chosen a transplant center, you will be considered to determine whether you complete the center’s eligibility requirements for a kidney transplant.
The group at the transplant center will assess whether you are fit enough to have surgery and tolerate lifelong post-transplant medications, Have any medical conditions that would hinder transplant success and are keen and able to take medications as required, and follow the suggestions of the transplant team.
3. Finding a match
A kidney donor can be alive or deceased, related or unrelated to you. Your kidney transplant team will consider several factors when considering whether a donor kidney will be a good match for you. It is preferable to get a kidney from a contributor whose blood type checks or is compatible with your own.
Transplants affecting a donor and recipient with inconsistent blood types are also possible but require additional medical therapy before and after transplant to reduce the risk of organ rejection. This kind of transplant is known as an ABO-incompatible kidney transplant.
If your blood type is compatible, the next step is tissue typing questioning called antigen typing. This kind of test reaches genetic markers that improve the likelihood the transplanted kidney will survive a long time.
A good match means it is less possible that your body will reject the organ. The third and final matching test involves mixing a small sample of your blood with the donor’s blood in the lab.
The test determines whether antibodies in your blood will respond against distinct antigens in the donor’s blood. A negative match means they are consistent and your body isn’t as likely to reject the donor’s kidney.
Positive kidney transplants also are possible but require further medical treatment before and after the transplant to lower the risk of your antibodies reacting to the donor organ. Additional factors your transplant team may consider in finding the numerous suitable donor kidney for you include matching age, kidney length, and infection exposure.
Cost of Kidney Transplant
In developed nations like the USA or European countries medicare covers about 80% of the costs associated with an evaluation, transplant operation, follow-up care, and anti-rejection medicines. Also, private insurers and state programs may cover some expenses as well.
But despite the insurance, the cost incurred on patients is too high in these developed nations. Therefore alternatively the patients can travel to countries like India or Turkey for their kidney transplant treatment for affordable and quality treatment. The kidney transplant price in India is way too less as compared to the USA or UK even after including the insurance.
Bottom line
In deciding whether this is the best treatment for you, you may find it helpful to talk to people who had a transplant. You also need to speak to your doctor, providers, and various related members.