Why donate your kidney shouldn’t scare you

October 30, 2017.

Have you ever thought about donating your kidney while you are alive? In 2016, around 17,000 people were waiting for a kidney transplant in France. The demand is therefore immense.

A real solution for the patient

While it is possible to live with just one kidney, donating your kidney is not trivial. It is the only organ that we can donate in our lifetime. But are we ready to step onto the operating table for a friend who needs it? In 2016, of the 3,600 kidney transplants performed in 2016, 576 were done thanks to a donation from a loved one. Living kidney donation has many advantages.

For the patient, this donation is precious because the waiting times are shorter with the donation from a living person. ” In view of its benefits for the patient and the good health of the donors after the donation, this type of transplant needs to be developed in order to meet the growing demand from people with end-stage renal disease “, Estimates the Agency of Biomedicine, which has just launched a major awareness campaign on the issue.

Rare unwanted side effects for the donor

Kidney transplants are in fact intended primarily for patients with chronic renal failure. To treat this pathology, there is also dialysis but it is a more restrictive device. But what does the donor risk? According to a survey by the Biomedicine Agency and the Epidemiology Department of the CHU de Nancy, 97% of living donors consider their health to be excellent, very good or good 3 years after the operation.

Adverse side effects, although rare, still exist: 22% of donors say they experience scar pain, 4% contract urinary tract infections, 2% require treatment for high blood pressure and 1,2 % have pleuropulmonary complications. Do these reasons make you hesitate? Know that theThe transplant from a living donor increases the chances of survival by 15% compared to that from a deceased donor.

Marine Rondot

Read also: Organ donation: what you need to know