Pre-Donation Evaluation: Living-Donor Kidney Transplant

Prior to transplant surgery, both the donor and recipient will undergo a thorough evaluation to determine if a living-donor kidney transplant is the best option.

While living-donation eliminates the recipient's time on the transplant waitlist, it may not be an appropriate treatment option for everyone.

What to Expect During Your Living-Donor Kidney Transplant Evaluation

Our transplant team at UPMC takes pride in a personal connection with potential kidney donors.

During your pre-donation evaluation, a living-donor transplant nurse coordinator will collect your:

• Medical history
• Diagnostic studies
• Recent blood work
• Current physical finding

In order to be approved for living-donor kidney transplant, our dedicated transplant credit analyst will collect insurance authorization.

Following financial clearance, the living-donor transplant nurse coordinator will work with you and the recipient to set a convenient date for the living-donor kidney transplant surgery.

If, at any point, the preoperative test results appear to show risk to you or the kidney transplant recipient, the evaluation process will stop.

Final Steps Before Kidney Surgery

One month before your surgery, we will:

• Perform a final cross-match to check donor and recipient compatibility.
• Give you and the kidney transplant recipient instructions about how to prepare for surgery.