All is not lost in the search for cover post transplant, as Livi Jenkinson explains, times have changed.
This means that the kidney is not damaged and will usually begin to function immediately after it is transplanted. The kidney is transplanted into the recipient using traditional open surgery.
This takes three to four hours, but nevertheless is now considered to be routine. The recipient can expect to stay in hospital for one to two weeks after the operation and return to work in six to eight weeks. Outcomes are explained below.
Being on dialysis is an energy-sapping experience that substantially disrupts the life of the patient. The difference in appearance of a recipient after a transplantation is remarkably transformed even in the few days of post-operative care; and, of course, he or she no longer has to undergo the gruelling regime of dialysis.
Key Factors
The outlook for a person who has had a kidney transplant will depend on a number of factors including:
• whether the donation was a living donation or not
• whether the donation was from a close relative or someone with the same tissue type
• the age of the person receiving the donation
• the overall health of the person receiving the donation
All the above are taken into account when underwriters are assessing an individual who has had a kidney transplant and is looking to obtain life insurance.
The survival statistics for someone who has received a kidney donation from a living donor are as follows (taken from the website Kidney Transplant – NHS Choices):
• one year – 90% to 95%
• five years – 80%
• 15 years – 60%
Where kidneys are donated from a deceased donor, survival rates are not quite as high as someone who has received the organ from a living donor however, they are still very encouraging:
• one year – 85% to 90%
• five years – 70%
• 15 years – 50%
These figures are outstanding and demonstrate the advances made by modern medicine.
