Criteria for kidney transplantation
All patients with chronic kidney disease should be considered for kidney transplantation.
Situations that would prevent you from being a candidate for kidney transplant:
- Current malignancy (cancer)
- Ongoing active substance abuse
- Inability to care for yourself
- Lack of social support (no family or friends to help you)
- Current noncompliance with dialysis or medical treatment plan
If any of these are a problem for you now, and you’re interested in kidney transplantation, you need to take steps to correct them before transplant consideration.
If none of these are an issue, give us a call. We will schedule you and your family for an educational class to learn whether kidney transplantation is right for you.
Transplant evaluation
Scheduled evaluations occur after an educational class. You’ll be seen by group of doctors, nurses, and other health care professionals who are experts in the field of kidney transplantation.
During this evaluation, our experts will look for such transplant risk factors as:
- Active infection
- Serious heart or lung disease
- Obesity
- Past malignancies (cancers)
- Recent/past substance abuse
- Psychosocial disorders
- Past noncompliance with dialysis or medical treatment plan
- Inadequate financial resources
Post-transplant care
Patients who continue their care with a transplant center in conjunction with seeing their own doctors do better and keep their new kidneys longer. Saint Luke's kidney transplant patients receive regular follow-up care at Saint Luke's for several months after transplantation, and we work in a shared care model with your nephrologist. We want to see you at Saint Luke's at least once a year.
Nephrologists specializing in kidney transplants as well as specially trained nurses see patients in our outpatient kidney transplant clinic.
If you are looking for a transplant center to provide post-transplant care, contact us at our Kansas City and Wichita clinics.
Our kidney transplant team
Our kidney transplant team includes:
- Nephrologist
- Transplant surgeon
- Transplant nurse coordinator
- Transplant social worker
- Transplant financial counselor
- Transplant dietitian
- Transplant pharmacist