Kidney Transplant Options
Types of Kidney Transplantation
The Kidney Transplant Program at UI Health offers different types of kidney transplant options that other hospitals often do not offer. Please look at the short description of each type below and click on the title to the left for more information about each specific type.
Living Related Donor: This refers to a living donor who is a healthy blood relative of the person awaiting transplant. This could be a sibling, parent, child, aunt, uncle, cousin, among others.
Living Unrelated Donor: This refers to a healthy person who is emotionally close to but not blood related to the person awaiting transplant. This includes one's spouse, in-law relatives, and close friends. A living unrelated donor also may include an altruistic donor or someone involved in a liver-paired donation or donor chain.
Deceased (Cadaver) Kidney Transplant: Patients with advanced kidney disease, who do not have the option of a living donor transplant, join the waiting list for a kidney from a deceased donor.
Robotic Kidney Transplantation for Overweight/Obese Patients: Through robotic-assisted surgical techniques, we have been to provide kidney transplantations for patients with moderate obesity who may not be eligible for transplantation at other medical centers.
ABO Incompatible/Positive Crossmatch: If a patient has high antibodies or a donor with an incompatible blood type, we have been successful in finding ways for both types to be transplanted.
Paired Donor Exchange: We also are proud to offer paired kidney exchange — or "kidney swap" — for patients with donor blood-type incompatibilities.
Pediatric Kidney Transplant: Over the last 40 years, the team has successfully treated a large number of children with kidney failure.
