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The transplant surgery, pre-transplant evaluation and care after transplant will typically be the same whether your child receives a kidney from a living donor or deceased donor.
The timing of the surgery, though, will be somewhat different.
If your child is receiving a deceased donor kidney, the Pediatric Kidney Transplant Program team at Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center will call you and admit your child to the hospital as soon as a kidney becomes available. You will need to get to the hospital as soon as possible after you are called.
When you arrive, your child will have a physical examination and pre-operative blood tests to make sure that he / she does not have any active infection or other medical problem that would make the transplant surgery unsafe at that time.
A final crossmatch blood test will also be done to make sure that the available kidney indeed matches your child.
Prior to the transplant surgery, your child will receive dialysis if needed and will be given immunosuppressive medications to reduce the risk of rejecting the new kidney.
If your child receives a kidney from a living donor, the transplant will be scheduled in advance. A few days before the transplant, your child and the donor will have blood drawn for the final cross match done to be certain the available kidney still matches your child.
Also at this time, your child will have a pre-operative physical examination and will be started on immunosuppressant medications to reduce the risk of rejecting the new kidney. Most living donor recipients are admitted to the hospital on the morning of the transplant surgery unless earlier hospitalization for dialysis or other pre-operative preparations are necessary.
Last Updated: 07/2010
