Living Kidney Donation

The best option for a patient waiting for a kidney transplant is to receive one from a living donor. At the Ohio State Wexner Medical Center, a third of our kidney transplants are from living donors.

CLICK HERE TO START THE LIVING DONOR PROCESS

Why donate a kidney?

Patients with end-stage kidney disease have three options for treatment:

  1. Dialysis
  2. Kidney transplant from a deceased donor
  3. Kidney transplant from a living donor

With dialysis, a machine is used to artificially clean the blood, doing the work of a healthy kidney. It’s time-consuming and exhausting, as frequent as three times a week for up to four hours each session. While a patient can remain on dialysis for many years, it’s not a cure for kidney disease. In fact, ten percent of patients on dialysis die each year while waiting for a kidney transplant. For some groups, such as elderly patients and patients with diabetes, there is an even greater risk of dying.

A kidney transplant is the preferred treatment option for patients with end-stage kidney disease. But the demand for kidneys from deceased donors is greater than the number available – which means patients can wait years for a kidney transplant, often growing weaker while waiting.

The best and fastest option for kidney transplant is to receive a kidney from a living donor.

Evaluation Process

Living Kidney Donor Evaluation Process

The donor undergoes a medical history review and a complete physical examination. A psychological evaluation may be used to provide information, emotional support and assess motivation.

All prospective living donors meet with our Living Donor Advocate to discuss the candidate’s decision to become a donor. The Living Donor Advocate provides unbiased, confidential support, discusses your willingness to donate and assesses your understanding of informed consent.

Here’s what you can expect during your evaluation process:

  • You will need to provide a copy of your blood type or have blood drawn to confirm blood type ((the Pre-Transplant Office will provide an order for blood draw)
  • 24-hour blood pressure monitoring
  • Female donors will need to provide a copy of their last Pap test result, breast exam and mammogram report. A Release of Information form is included in this packet. Please sign the form
    and forward it to your doctor’s office. If your Pap test or mammogram is more than a year old, you should schedule an appointment for new exams
  • Complete a Glucose Tolerance Test (GTT) if requested by the Pre-Transplant Office
  • Blood collection for comprehensive tests and screening for communicable disease
  • 24-hour urine collection
  • Chest X-ray and EKG (tests to determine heart and lung health)
  • CT angiogram of kidneys (an X-ray test to evaluate the kidneys and blood vessels)
  • Meet with a transplant coordinator have a psychosocial evaluation, a psychosocial evaluation, receive surgical and medical evaluations, and complete tests
  • Any additional testing as needed
  • Final pre-donation laboratory studies (done seven to 10 days before surgery)

IMPORTANT: You won’t be evaluated for living kidney donation until you’ve watched our 30-minute education video: go.osu.edu/KidneyDonorEducation.
Download video transcript

What to expect when donating a kidney

46 year old Mike Robison, living in Arizona, donated a kidney to his brother, Steve living in Columbus, Ohio. Mike talks about his kidney donation experience at Ohio State's Comprehensive Transplant Center and how his life has not changed after kidney donation, explaining that “it was a great process overall.”
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Ten living donors gave kidneys to 10 patients, saving their lives

This is the largest living donor kidney exchange in the history of The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center Comprehensive Transplant Center, and one of the largest to take place nationally.

More information about living kidney donation

Patient Success Stories
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Coworker donates kidney to highway patroller

Tracy Harvey, a secretary at the Ohio State Highway Patrol office gives the gift of a living kidney to colleague, Andrew Geer. After successful surgeries, both Harvey and Geer, were surprised by a clap-out outside of The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center, where family members, care teams and fellow coworkers joined to honor them.
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Kidney donation chain saves five lives at once

Living kidney donor chains often arise out of situations where a friend or family member wants to donate a kidney, but blood or tissue types don’t match. All but two patients of this 10-person living kidney donation chain were in this same situation. In these instances, the transplant team at the Ohio State Wexner Medical Center helped to link incompatible donor/recipient pairs with other mismatched donor/recipient pairs.
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Transplant patient thrives without medication after innovative procedure

Kidney transplant patient Kyle Clark has a chance to be free of lifelong organ antirejection drugs after receiving both the kidney and bone marrow of his donor brother through a collaboration between the Comprehensive Transplant Center at The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center and the Blood and Marrow Transplant Program at The James.
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Mother and son donate kidneys to ailing husband and father, 21 years apart

Transplant surgeon Amer Rajab, MD, PhD, performed both procedures across the decades for ‘blessed’ patient.

Read their amazing story here.
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After Donating a Kidney, Ironman Back to Training 6 Days a Week

Mike is an extreme athlete, participating in Iron Man Triathlon events. Yet even though Mike enjoys pushing himself physically, he took a break from competing to be a non-directed kidney donor.
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Couple Share a Life and a Kidney

Megan, born with only one kidney that was not high functioning, received a kidney from her husband Jake in December, 2018 at Ohio State.
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Chance encounter at Miami Valley Hospital leads to life-saving gift performed at Ohio State

Mike is an extreme athlete, participating in Iron Man Triathlon events. Yet even though Mike enjoys pushing himself physically, he took a break from competing to be a non-directed kidney donor.

Tips From Our Experts
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Living Kidney Donation Best Option for Recipients

Todd Pesavento, MD, Medical Director of kidney transplantation explains why living kidney donation is the best option for kidney recipients and who can be a living kidney donor.

Our Latest Living Kidney Donor News

Additional Information

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