At UPMC Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh, parents can pursue a preemptive kidney transplant before their child with chronic kidney disease (CKD) begins dialysis.
Having a preemptive kidney transplant before CKD progresses to end-stage kidney disease can offer many health benefits. It can also improve long-term outcomes compared to starting end-stage kidney treatment with dialysis.
Why Choose a Preemptive Kidney Transplant?
Children with end-stage kidney disease face many challenges. These can include growth delays and learning problems. They can also mean frequent trips to the hospital.
Dialysis can also feel hard on the body and mind. Some children with CKD may have treatment as many as four days a week for hours at a time.
But a preemptive kidney transplant before dialysis starts can help avoid these issues. Your child may also have better overall health and growth.
Other benefits of early transplantation:
- Better quality of life — Children often have more energy. They also have better school attendance and improved mental health.
- Enhanced growth and development — Children may grow and learn at a normal rate.
- Fewer complications — Children avoid the risks and side effects that can come with dialysis. These can include infections and vein access problems.
- Improved survival rates — Studies show children who have a kidney transplant before starting dialysis may live longer.
Early referral to a transplant center is crucial. Exploring this option fully can give your child the best possible future.
How Do I Find a Living Donor?
Most preemptive transplants rely on living donors. This is often a parent or other relative — but not always. Random donors can also provide a match for a child in need of a kidney transplant.
Using a living donor tends to lead to better outcomes because the wait time is often shorter. There’s also a lower risk of organ rejection compared to a kidney transplant from a deceased donor.
Why Choose UPMC Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh for Pediatric Kidney Transplants?
UPMC Children’s performed its first pediatric kidney transplant in 1964. Our transplant team has since performed kidney transplants on hundreds of children and teens. We’re now one of the most active pediatric kidney transplant centers in the world.
Our Children’s Kidney Transplant Program was one of the first programs in the world to use tacrolimus as its primary immunosuppressive agent. We use this immunosuppressant drug to prevent organ rejection after a transplant.
The result is that our long-term patient and graft survival rates are among the best in the world. This has also allowed most of the children having kidney transplants at UPMC Children’s to stop taking chronic maintenance steroids.
The kidney transplant program at UPMC Children’s includes living-donor and deceased-donor kidney transplants. It also includes liver/kidney and multivisceral/kidney transplants.
For more information, visit our website.