Kidney Transplant

Utah's premier kidney transplant program - Intermountain Kidney Transplant at Intermountain Medical Center - began in 1983 at LDS Hospiatl and has paved the way for future transplantation, providing excellent support of services critical to transplant success. Our team includes critical care specialists, pathologists, radiologists, surgeons, infectious disease experts, and a skilled nursing staff.

Since 1983, more than 1,570 kidney transplants have been performed, an impressive number given the shortage of available organs for all types of transplantation.

• Patient Stories

Becoming a living donor

Over the last two years 60 percent of the kidney transplants performed were from a living donor. We encourage living donation whenever possible for several reasons:

• Shorter waiting time for recipient – The surgery is scheduled as soon as the recipient and donor complete their testing.
• Timing of transplant – The transplant may be able to take place just before the recipient requires dialysis, avoiding a permanent fistula or dialysis access.
• Use of living donors reduces the number of people on the deceased donor list who may not have a living donor available to them.
• Laparoscopic surgery to remove the kidney has made kidney donation more appealing to the donor.

Who can donate?

Donors can be family members, spouses, friends, co-workers and even can be complete strangers who may offer to donate a kidney to a stranger in need:

• Must be over 18; age 60 or so is the upper age range-depends on kidney function testing.
• Must be a willing donor – no payment for donation is allowed.
• Must be healthy – no history of diabetes, hypertension (may not be on blood pressure medication), no history of recent or recurrent kidney stones or multiple kidney infections, no history of cancer, weight must be below a body mass index (BMI) of 32.
• Must be psychologically stable, able to make sound decisions, and demonstrate understanding of risks and benefits of donation.
• Must be a compatible blood type and have a negative crossmatch with recipient.

Good Samaritan Donation

Intermountain Medical Center is one of the leaders in the country in the number of Good Samaritan kidney donor surgeries that we have performed.

Utah is unique in our partnership with Intermountain Donor Services. Operating under a federal grant, a donor registry has been set up in Utah and Idaho. On that registry, a person can indicate their desire to be a traditional organ donor and they can also check a box to receive more information about being a living kidney donor.

• Yes Utah
• Yes Idaho

If a person requests information, a coordinator from Intermountain Donor Services calls them and does a brief telephone interview. An information packet is sent to their home.

Referral Process:

• Physician referral obtained
• Transplant office will contact the patient to schedule a consultation with the team
• Recipient case reviewed with selection committee
• A transplant coordinator (staff) is always available for questions, regardless of referral
• A transplant physician is available to speak with referring physicians. The transplant staff will help make the connection between patient and physician
• Transplant Assistant/Coordinator will schedule pre transplant evaluation for the patient
• Multidisciplinary meeting to review evaluation findings
• Patient listed or scheduled for transplant