Collaboration for Better Care
A comprehensive team of pediatric specialists on staff at the Children’s Hospital of Michigan work together to serve the needs of pediatric Kidney Transplant Program patients. The Children’s Hospital Kidney Transplant Program provides
the best possible care to children with chronic kidney disease and end stage renal disease.
Pediatric Dialysis Center
Children who need a kidney transplant often spend time on dialysis while waiting for transplant surgery. The Pediatric Dialysis Center at the Children’s Hospital of Michigan not only provides a comfortable environment for children and teens, it’s
also known for the highest quality and patient safety standards.
The Pediatric Dialysis Center is recognized as a 5-Diamond Facility by the Renal Network 11, comprised of five states in the Upper Midwest, for having completed the 5-Diamond Patient Safety Program module. This distinction recognizes the work Children’s
Hospital of Michigan has done to promote patient safety and the entire team’s devotion to patient safety issues within the dialysis community.
How to Start the Process
If your child has advanced kidney disease or is on dialysis, it’s time to start considering kidney transplantation. The sooner you begin the process, the faster your child can get back to living.
Here are the simple steps you can take to get started on your transplant journey:
- Attend a kidney transplant orientation to learn about the procedure.
- Meet with pediatric nephrologists, transplant surgeons on staff and Kidney Transplant Program dietitians and social workers to determine the patient’s readiness and need for a transplant.
- Additional pediatric medical specialists on staff may also be involved in the initial evaluation, including urologists, child psychologists and specially trained transplant nurses.
- After the initial evaluation, the physicians and specialists convene as a patient selection committee to decide if a child is ready for transplantation.
- If the child is ready for transplantation, he/she will be listed on the UNOS waiting list for a deceased donor kidney – even if a living donor candidate has volunteered to donate a kidney to the child. Since it may take a long time for a deceased
donor kidney to become available, it’s wise to list the child on the UNOS database in case something unexpected comes up and the living donor cannot donate his/her kidney after all.
Understanding the Kidney Transplant Process
Kidney transplantation is a surgical procedure that removes one healthy kidney from a donor and places it in another person who suffers from kidney disease or failure. One transplanted kidney can perform the work of two failed kidneys.
There are three main types of kidney transplant donors:
- Living-related donor – a living family member
- Living-unrelated donor – a spouse or friend
- Deceased donors – a recently deceased person who wanted to be an organ donor
General Health Maintenance Requirements
During the pre-transplant process, the kidney transplant recipient and donor candidate must meet certain general health maintenance requirements to remain eligible for a transplant. These requirements include:
- Immunization
- Dental evaluation
- Cardiac clearance
Living Donor Transplantation
A kidney transplant from a living donor is the preferred source of organ for transplantation. Kidneys from living donors generally last twice as long as kidneys from deceased donors.
Other advantages of living-donor transplants include:
- Shorter wait time to transplantation
- Lower chance of organ rejection
- Improved short- and long-term outcomes
- Shorter hospital stays
In many cases, identifying a living donor can help your child avoid dialysis completely or decrease his/her length of time on dialysis.
If you don’t have a living donor for your child, you still have a chance of getting a kidney from a deceased donor. All patients at the Children’s Hospital of Michigan are placed on the United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS) waiting list
for a deceased-donor kidney.
