Kidney Donation Surgery
If you're considering donating a kidney, you may wonder what living kidney donor surgery or recovery entails. At Memorial Transplant Institute, donors benefit from our minimally invasive approach to donor surgery and our attentive follow-up care.
Before Kidney Donation Surgery
Memorial Transplant Institute's living kidney donor program includes experienced professionals whose sole purpose is to guide potential donors through the kidney donation process. To begin, our living donor team will teach you about the benefits and risks of living kidney donation and address any questions you may have. Our personalized guidance and support continues all the way through your post-surgery follow-up care. Read more about how to donate a kidney.
If you decide to become a donor, we will give you clear instructions on when to arrive at the hospital for surgery and how to prepare. If you know the person to whom you're donating a kidney, the two of you may be asked to arrive at the hospital at the same time.
During Living Kidney Donation Surgery
Living kidney donation surgery typically takes between four and five hours from start to finish.
Memorial Transplant Institute's care team specializes in performing a minimally invasive approach called laparoscopic surgery. During this procedure, our surgeons use advanced robotic technology to make tiny incisions in the abdominal area.
Kidney Donation Recovery
Within the first 24 hours after kidney donor surgery, you will receive a visit from our team. We will continue to monitor your progress during your stay in the hospital.
Most living kidney donors stay in the hospital for two to three days. Before we discharge you from the hospital, we will make sure that the discharge plan previously coordinated is still in place.
Because of the small incisions our surgeons use in kidney donor surgery, patients experience a shorter recovery with less pain compared with traditional kidney donor surgery techniques. Some patients are back to work a few weeks after surgery.
Life After Donating a Kidney
Living donors need to pay extra attention to their health to avoid complications such as hypertension or diabetes. Our care team follows donors closely for the first two years after donation. We encourage regular physicals and will work with a donor's primary physician to monitor kidney function during that time.
Learn more about our personalized approach to living kidney donation or read our experts' take on common questions people ask about donating a kidney: FAQs.
Contact Us
We're always just a phone call away. To make an appointment or learn more about our robust living kidney donor program, call 954-265-7450.
