Who is in need of a Kidney Transplant?
There is an estimated 1.2 million people around the world who are suffering from end-stage renal disease (ESRD). ESRD is the result of many other chronic diseases such as diabetes, hypertension, and polycystic kidney disease. Treatments for ESRD include hemodialysis, peritoneal dialysis, and renal transplantation. ESRD patients are placed on dialysis since their failing kidneys can no longer filter waste out of the body. Patients register themselves on a transplant list and recipients of new kidneys can extend their lives 10-15 years longer compared to those staying on dialysis. As of mid 2008, the number of patients on the kidney transplant waiting list was well over 80.000 at the United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS). How does my body react to a kidney transplant? As with many organ transplants, your body will recognize the new organ as a foreign object and your body will try to fend off the “foreign object.” When this occurs, patients, especially kidney transplant patients, have a
