Why choose Ohio State for kidney transplant?

Expertise: We perform nearly 300 kidney transplants a year, including adult living donor transplants, making us one of the top 20 transplant programs by volume in the United States. A kidney transplant from a living donor is the best option for a patient with end-stage kidney disease. Our program is focused on expanding access to living kidney donation by overcoming blood type incompatibility through our kidney donor exchange program. In early 2020, we completed an 8-way kidney donor exchange consisting of 8 living donors and 8 recipients. This bested our previous chain, a 6-way, performed in 2011. Our 8-way is the largest, single-institution living kidney donor exchange to date in Ohio, and one of only a handful in the country. 

Experience: Our Comprehensive Transplant Center has one of the largest organ transplant programs in the nation and is a preferred provider for all major insurance companies. Each year we perform nearly 600 kidney, liver, pancreas, combined kidney-pancreas, heart and lung transplants. Since our program started in 1967, we have performed 13,000 lifesaving organ transplants including 8,350 kidney transplants.

Kidney transplant research: We participate in clinical trials of new immunosuppressive drugs and antirejection therapies including novel cell therapy to prevent kidney transplant failure.

Kidney Transplant Candidates

Kidney Transplant Candidates

Solid organ kidney transplant involves surgically implanting a new kidney that has been donated by a deceased or a living donor. Typically, your kidneys are left in place. Kidney transplantation may be a treatment option for patients whose kidneys have permanently failed due to chronic end-stage renal disease caused by:
  • Autoimmune disease: Your body's immune system protects you from disease and infection. But if you have an autoimmune disease, your immune system attacks healthy cells in your body by mistake. Autoimmune diseases can affect many parts of the body.
  • Congenital abnormalities: A birth defect is a problem that happens while a baby is developing in the mother's body. Most birth defects happen during the first three months of pregnancy. One out of every 33 babies in the United States is born with a birth defect.

    A birth defect may affect how the body looks, works or both. Some birth defects like cleft lip or neural tube defects are structural problems that can be easy to see. To find others, like heart defects, doctors use special tests. Birth defects can vary from mild to severe. 
Your overall health, not your age, is the most important factor in determining if you are a suitable organ recipient. Screenings before transplant ensure that you are in good medical and psychological health and that you have the motivation and support to comply with treatment plans. People who generally are not candidates include those with metastatic cancer, active drug or alcohol abuse, active infection or severe medical problems.

Largest kidney donation chain at Ohio State saves ten lives

A complex chain of surgeries over two days gives 10 kidney recipients a new life and makes way for others to get closer to transplantation.

Why kidney transplant from a living donor is the best option?

Patients with end-stage kidney disease have three options for treatment: 1. dialysis, 2. kidney transplant from a deceased donor, or 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.

More information about living kidney donation

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Our Providers

Our Providers

Todd Pesavento, MD
4.9 out of 5

Todd Pesavento, MD

  • Nephrology
  • Physician

Clinical Professor of Internal Medicine

Accepting new patients
  • Brain and Spine Hospital
(614) 293-6724
Nicholas Marschalk, DO

Nicholas Marschalk, DO

  • Infectious Disease
  • Osteopathic Physician

Clinical Assistant Professor of Internal Medicine

(614) 293-4854
Alejandro Diez, MD
4.9 out of 5

Alejandro Diez, MD

  • Nephrology
  • Physician

Clinical Associate Professor of Internal Medicine

Accepting new patients
  • Brain and Spine Hospital
(614) 293-6724

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