What prevents me from being a living donor?
Due to potential risks for you or a recipient, certain health conditions or disease may prevent you from donating. These include:
- Diabetes. Diabetics may develop kidney disease. This puts the individual at risk for needing a kidney transplant in the future.
- Hypertension. Hypertension can cause kidney disease. If you have hypertension, the transplant team will thoroughly examine your kidneys. The team considers how long you have had hypertension and how well controlled it is with medication. If you donate, you and your clinician will need to take extra care of your single kidney, which will be doing the work of two.
- Genetic Predisposition or Family History. If someone in your family has kidney disease, including the potential recipient, the team wants to ensure that you do not have a risk of developing the same disease.
What are the risks of donating a kidney?
Any major surgery has associated risks. For more information about the risks associated with kidney donation, contact the GW Hospital Transplant Institute at 202-715-4225 or visit them online.