Are transplants from living donors always successful?
Although transplantation is highly successful, and success rates continue to improve, problems may occur. Sometimes, the kidney is lost to rejection, surgical complications or the original disease that caused the recipient’s kidneys to fail. Talk to the transplant center staff about their success rates and the national success rates. Although not everyone can be an organ donor, most people can be a tissue donor, as tissues can be retrieved up to 24 hours after the heart has stopped beating – cardiac death. You do not need to have died in a hospital to be able to donate tissues. The success of transplantation has given people the chance not only of survival but renewed quality of life. It is well recognised that it is only through the generosity of individuals and their families that transplantation is made possible.
Although transplantation is highly successful, and success rates continue to improve, problems may occur. Sometimes, the kidney is lost to rejection, surgical complications or the original disease that caused the recipient’s kidney to fail. Talk to the transplant center staff about their success rates and the national success rates.
