Mar 04, 2014 – Careful Selection

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Health newsfeed for Tuesday, March 4, 2014

ANCHOR LEAD: PEOPLE WHO DECIDE TO DONATE A KIDNEY SHOULD EXPECT A VERY THOROUGH WORKUP, ELIZABETH TRACEY REPORTS

People who decide to allow one of their kidneys to be removed and transplanted into someone who needs a kidney face a very small risk of suffering kidney disease themselves in subsequent years, a study by Dorry Segev and colleagues at Johns Hopkins has shown.

SEGEV: The extra risk of kidney failure that you take from donating a kidney is about 0.3% compared to not donating a kidney.  This risk is very small because we screen donors more carefully than anyone can imagine. Donors undergo probably the most extensive medical history, medical workup, laboratory testing.  We know everything we could possibly know about a donor at the time that we evaluate them for donation eligibility.   :30

Segev hopes that knowing just how small the risk of living donation is will encourage more people to consider such an option.  At Johns Hopkins, I’m Elizabeth Tracey.