Does renal transplant means health once and for all?

A successful renal transplant and well being afterwards depends on the following points.

1. The patient’s condition is the basis. To guarantee the success of the surgery and long term stability after it, uremic patients should confirm that their primary diseases such as nephritis are not in an active stage and renal function recovery is impossible and their condition is relatively good.  

2. Successful surgery is the necessary condition. Perfect match, no systemic disease with the receipt, rapidity in getting the donated kidney and superb skills of the surgeon are important guarantees of a successful surgery.  

3. Rejection is a problem that kidney transplantation patients are likely to confront at any time. Although there is big progress in the effect of anti-rejection drugs and it improves the survival rate of transplanted kidney in a short time, it has little to do with chronic rejection. Once rejection occurs, renal function will decline to failure gradually and patients require dialysis again. Long time use of anti-rejection drugs will also lower the patients’ immunity. Infection is the main reason that leads to rejection and death. In the meantime, rate of cancer is dozens of times of normal people. In addition, anti-rejection drugs can also cause hepatotoxicity, nephrotoxicity, high blood sugar and bone loss, which are not adverse reactions of patients on dialysis.

4. Patients with complications and other potential diseases should be cautious. Renal transplant means getting rid of dialysis in a sense, but it can’t cure potential diseases such as diabetes, arteriosclerosis or even can make them worse. Previous kidney disease may also recur in the transplanted kidney.
5. The donor had better be living. The survival rate of transplanted kidney from a dead donor is almost the same with dialysis. So life span doesn’t change because of transplant.
6. To uremic patients with viral hepatitis such as HBV, HCV, they need to take anti-rejection drugs for a long time. Because of immune suppression, active hepatitis or even liver failure may happen. So this kind of patients had better not receive renal transplant.    

Medical technology keeps developing nowadays. Uremic patients don’t need to pin all their hope to renal transplant. Uremia is not completely incurable. With proper treatment, it can be controlled. Clinical research shows that as long as there is still renal function, there is hope to cure it. As long as there is hope, patients should never give up treatment.