What are the risks of living donation?
Short term risks of living kidney donation involve the risk of the surgery required to remove one of your kidneys. Surgical complications are rare but most commonly include bleeding requiring transfusion, infection of the surgical incision or lungs, abnormal blood clotting, and allergic reactions to medications used in surgery. Following the removal of your kidney, the remaining kidney grows slightly to take over the work that two kidneys previously shared. Studies following living donors for many years after kidney removal show very few adverse health effects of living with one kidney. Living donation does not change life expectancy and most donors go on to live healthy and normal lives.
