UI Hospitals and Clinics has been a long-time leading center for kidney and pancreas transplant. The first kidney transplant was in 1969 and first pancreas transplant in 1979. The program has created an impressive record of being stable and competent while performing over 3,000 kidney and pancreas transplants.
The program's nationally well-known faculty members provide the complete range of advanced medical and surgical options for patients with renal failure. This includes non-invasive laparoscopic donor nephrectomy for kidney donors. The non-invasive approach requires only three or four small incisions. This non-invasive procedure results in more rapid recovery with most donors going home after 48 hours.
Patient and graft outcomes have consistently been outstanding, and the average waiting time for a kidney or pancreas transplant at UI Hospitals and Clinics is shorter than regional and national averages.
Our team of specialists provides efficient, individualized care from referral through post-surgery. This team includes world recognized members who play leadership roles in the United Network for Organ Sharing, the American Society of Transplant Physicians, and the Transplantation Society.
UI Health Care transplant services offer:
- An average of 21 months on a wait list vs. 41 months nationally.
- Survival rates are among the best in the country.
- Coordination with referring physicians.
- Post-transplant monitoring.
- Living related, living unrelated, and altruistic donor transplants. Living donation is faster than waiting on the deceased donor list. Survival time of a living donor kidney can be longer than a kidney from a deceased donor.
- Live donor kidneys are removed through laparoscopy, shortening the post-transplant stay and improving the recovery of the donor.
- Paired donor kidney exchange program where two kidney recipients with incompatible donors essentially "swap" their willing donors.
Common indications for transplant are:
- Stage 4 or 5 chronic kidney disease.
- Symptoms of uremic poisoning include:
- Nausea.
- Loss of appetite.
- Sleeplessness, fatigue.
- Acid-base or electrolyte irregularities that don't respond to medication.