“Can donating a kidney shorten your life?”
My brother needs a kidney transplant, and I want to test whether or not mine is a match. But, if I'm a match and donate one of my kidneys, will it shorten my life?
4 Answers
No. Living donation does not change life expectancy. In general, most people with a single normal kidney have few or no problems. Please make sure you talk to the transplant team about the possible risks associated with kidney donation.
Not really, but two kidneys are much better one kidney function.
We really evaluate a possible kidney donor in great detail, so that we can be as sure as humanly possible that there will be no effect on the donor. As I teach about this, I state that the job of the doctor evaluating the donor is to say NO if there are ANY problems.
I hope this helps as you consider what to do.
I hope this helps as you consider what to do.
No
