The transplant process has many steps.
- Talking with Your Health Care Provider
The first step is to talk with your health care provider about whether you are a candidate for a transplant. Transplantation is not for everyone. Your health care provider may tell you that you are not healthy enough for surgery or that you have a condition that would make transplantation unlikely to succeed. If you are a good candidate for a transplant, your health care provider will refer you to a transplant center.
- Medical, Psychological, and Social Evaluation at a Transplant Center
The next step is a thorough physical, psychological, and social evaluation at the transplant center, where you will meet members of your transplant team. Your pretransplant evaluation may require several visits to the transplant center over the course of weeks or even months.
You will need to have blood tests as well as other tests to check your heart and other organs. Your blood type and other matching factors help determine whether your body will accept an available donor kidney.
Your transplant team will make sure you are healthy enough for surgery. Some medical conditions or illnesses could make transplantation less likely to succeed.
In addition, your team will make sure you can understand and follow the schedule for taking the medicines needed after surgery. Team members need to be sure that you are mentally prepared for the responsibilities of caring for a transplanted kidney.
If a family member or friend wants to donate a kidney, that person will need a health exam to test whether the kidney is a good match.