Priceless Gift
Living Donor Kidney Transplants Are Saving More Lives than Ever Before

Kidney donations from living donors are a vital component of the Inova Transplant Center, Northern Virginia's most active program of its kind. Since the Center was established in 1992, there have been almost as many living kidney donations as there have been deceased donations. And with nearly 90,000 candidates on the national transplant waiting list, live kidney donations clearly offer a lifesaving benefit.

"The huge advantage to kidneys donated from a live donor is the recipient doesn't have to wait five to seven years on dialysis for a transplant," says Johann Jonsson, MD, Director of the Kidney and Pancreas Transplant Programs at Inova Fairfax Hospital. "When you give a kidney, you're giving 10 years of life to the recipient."

The Living Advantage

Right now in the United States, a person waiting for a kidney transplant dies every 20 minutes because of the shortage of deceased donor kidneys. Living donations not only help solve this crisis, they also offer key advantages for recipients. "The survival rate for people who received a living donor kidney compared to a deceased donor kidney is much, much better," says Ravinder Wali, MD, Medical Director of Inova's Kidney and Pancreas Transplant Programs, which boast graft and patient survival rates above the national averages.

A Major Decision

Still, for the donor, kidney donation is a major decision that involves agreeing to undergo surgery. Thanks to advancements in minimally invasive surgery, donors who undergo a laparoscopic nephrectomy at Inova are home within 48 to 72 hours; they can return to work within two weeks. And for donors and recipients alike, the Inova Transplant Center offers a full spectrum of inpatient and outpatient transplant services for starting with the referral and continuing through post-transplant care. In fact, transplant team members are available for transplant patients and their families 24 hours a day, seven days a week.