“What is the window period to know if the body has accepted the transplanted organ?”
My nephew had a kidney transplant. Is there a window period of time where the body shows if it has rejected or accepted the organ?
3 Answers
"Acceptance" of the organ will be always secondary to a proper anti-rejection treatment. With time, however, the dose of anti-rejection medication could be slightly decreased, but that has to be done by your transplant physician. Serum creatinine and urine output are good metrics of the function of a transplanted kidney.
This is a great question. Firstly, congratulations to your nephew and his new lease on life. Organ acceptance and rejection is a life long process. Organ function is maintained as long as he stays compliant with his medications. When adequately immunosuppressed his risk of rejection will be low and will higher if he does not take his meds.
A kidney transplant that is properly matched by blood type and a negative pre-transplant Cross Match is "accepted" immediately at the time of the operation. All patients have a risk of developing acute rejection which is the bodies immune system attacking the kidney. This in general does not mean that the kidney was not accepted. I tell patients that in general the risk of acute rejection is about 10 to 15%. 90 % of these acute rejection episodes are treated successfully with steroids.
