{"id":2952,"date":"2026-09-12T19:40:56","date_gmt":"2026-09-12T19:40:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bookinghospital.org\/?p=2952"},"modified":"2026-09-12T20:00:42","modified_gmt":"2026-09-12T20:00:42","slug":"kidney-donor-what-happens-to-you","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bookinghospital.org\/ro\/kidney-donor-what-happens-to-you\/","title":{"rendered":"What Happens to You If You Donate a Kidney"},"content":{"rendered":"<div data-elementor-type=\"wp-post\" data-elementor-id=\"2952\" class=\"elementor elementor-2952\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-ce7a828 e-con-full e-flex e-con e-parent\" data-id=\"ce7a828\" data-element_type=\"container\" data-e-type=\"container\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-a9e26ea elementor-widget elementor-widget-html\" data-id=\"a9e26ea\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"html.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\n<div id=\"bh\">\n\n<section class=\"hero\">\n  <div class=\"in\">\n    <p class=\"eyebrow\">Kidney transplantation \u00b7 For the donor<\/p>\n    <h1>If I give my brother a kidney, what happens to me?<\/h1>\n    <p class=\"lead\">This is the question that stops most transplants \u2014 and it deserves\n       numbers, not reassurance. Here are the real figures, including what 135 of our own\n       donors told us years afterwards.<\/p>\n    <p class=\"meta\">Written by <b style=\"color:#fff\">Profesorul Dr. Murat Tuncer<\/b> \u00b7\n       Adapted from his book <i>Kidney Transplantation \u2014 With Questions and Answers<\/i><\/p>\n  <\/div>\n<\/section>\n\n<section class=\"wrap\">\n\n  <div class=\"ozet\">\n    <h2>The short answer<\/h2>\n    <ul>\n      <li>The risk of death from donor surgery is <b>1 in 3,000<\/b>. Stated plainly, because\n          you are entitled to the number.<\/li>\n      <li>The remaining kidney grows into the job \u2014 by three months it delivers about\n          <b>75%<\/b> of what two kidneys did.<\/li>\n      <li>Over 10\u201320 years, donors show <b>no difference<\/b> in blood pressure or protein in\n          the urine compared with their own non-donor siblings.<\/li>\n      <li>In a 20-year study, <b>85% of donors were alive<\/b> versus 66% of the general\n          population \u2014 donors did <b>better<\/b>, because they get checked regularly.<\/li>\n      <li>Of our own 135 donors, <b>94.8%<\/b> said they would do it again.<\/li>\n    <\/ul>\n  <\/div>\n\n  <h2>The centre's first duty is to the donor<\/h2>\n\n  <p>This needs saying before any numbers. From the moment a potential living donor comes\n     forward, <b>the most important person for the transplant centre is the donor<\/b> \u2014 not the\n     patient.<\/p>\n\n  <p>The patient is already ill. The donor is healthy, and the aim is to end up with\n     <b>two healthy people in one family, not two patients<\/b>.<\/p>\n\n  <div class=\"box\">\n    <span class=\"etiket\">How the decision is made<\/span>\n    <p>After all tests, the final decision is taken by a <b>council<\/b> \u2014 nephrologist, surgeon,\n      transplant coordinator, radiologist, psychologist. <b>No single physician can approve a\n      donor alone.<\/b><\/p>\n    <p>And the team can stop the transplant at any point if they judge the risk to the donor\n      too high \u2014 <b>including on the operating table<\/b>.<\/p>\n  <\/div>\n\n  <h2>The surgical risk<\/h2>\n\n  <p>As with any operation, nobody can promise a 100% safe surgery. The honest figures:<\/p>\n\n  <div class=\"tblwrap\">\n    <table>\n      <thead>\n        <tr><th>Risk<\/th><th>Rate<\/th><th>Comparison<\/th><\/tr>\n      <\/thead>\n      <tbody>\n        <tr><td><b>Death<\/b><\/td><td>1 in 3,000<\/td><td>\u2014<\/td><\/tr>\n        <tr><td>Wound infection<\/td><td>5%<\/td><td rowspan=\"2\">Same as any abdominal surgery \u2014 appendix, gallbladder<\/td><\/tr>\n        <tr><td>Urinary tract infection<\/td><td>4%<\/td><\/tr>\n        <tr><td>Pain at the surgical site after 1 year<\/td><td>4%, and mild<\/td><td>\u2014<\/td><\/tr>\n      <\/tbody>\n    <\/table>\n  <\/div>\n\n  <p><b>Recovery:<\/b> there is pain for a few days. Discharge is usually on the third day after\n     surgery. By <b>two months<\/b> the donor can do everything they did before, including\n     heavy lifting.<\/p>\n\n  <h2>What happens to the remaining kidney<\/h2>\n\n  <p>The kidney that stays behind does not simply carry on at half capacity. It adapts.<\/p>\n\n  <ul>\n    <li>By the end of <b>three months<\/b>, the remaining kidney provides on average\n        <b>75% of the pre-donation filtration rate<\/b> \u2014 not 50%.<\/li>\n    <li>Long-term creatinine clearance settles around <b>10\u201320% lower<\/b> than before.<\/li>\n    <li>In one prospective study, measured kidney function in donors was <b>still improving\n        36 months after donation<\/b>, while the control group showed the normal age-related\n        decline.<\/li>\n  <\/ul>\n\n  <div class=\"box\">\n    <span class=\"etiket\">The comparison that answers the fear<\/span>\n    <p>Landmark studies followed donors for <b>10 to 20 years<\/b> and compared them with their\n      own <b>non-donor siblings<\/b> \u2014 the same genetics, the same family history.<\/p>\n    <p>There was <b>no difference in protein in the urine, and no difference in blood\n      pressure.<\/b><\/p>\n  <\/div>\n\n  <p>It is also worth remembering that some people are born with a single kidney and live an\n     entirely healthy life.<\/p>\n\n  <div class=\"soru\">\n    <h3>Do donors die earlier?<\/h3>\n\n    <p>No. Three large retrospective studies found <b>no increase in mortality risk<\/b> among\n       donors.<\/p>\n\n    <p>One 20-year follow-up went further. At the end of the period, <b>85% of donors were\n       alive<\/b>, against a survival rate of <b>66%<\/b> in the general population \u2014 a\n       <b>19% better<\/b> outcome in the donor group.<\/p>\n\n    <p>The likely reason is not that donating is protective in itself. It is that donors are\n       screened thoroughly before surgery and then <b>followed at regular intervals for the\n       rest of their lives<\/b>. Most people never get that.<\/p>\n  <\/div>\n\n  <h2>What our own donors said<\/h2>\n\n  <p>Statistics from elsewhere are useful. But we wanted to know what happened to <b>our\n     patients' families<\/b> \u2014 so we interviewed <b>135 living kidney donors<\/b>, 76 women and\n     59 men, about their lives after donation.<\/p>\n\n  <p>Average age was 39.7 years, ranging from 18 to 64. Who they gave to:<\/p>\n\n  <div class=\"tblwrap\">\n    <table>\n      <thead>\n        <tr><th>Donated to<\/th><th>Share<\/th><\/tr>\n      <\/thead>\n      <tbody>\n        <tr><td>Their child<\/td><td><b>46%<\/b><\/td><\/tr>\n        <tr><td>Their sibling<\/td><td><b>32%<\/b><\/td><\/tr>\n        <tr><td>Their mother or father<\/td><td>5.9%<\/td><\/tr>\n        <tr><td>Other relatives (spouse, cousin)<\/td><td>5.2%<\/td><\/tr>\n      <\/tbody>\n    <\/table>\n  <\/div>\n\n  <h3>What they reported afterwards<\/h3>\n\n  <ul>\n    <li><b>72% had no health problems at all.<\/b> The remaining 28% reported various issues \u2014\n        9.6% high blood pressure, 3% pain or swelling at the surgical site, 3% digestive\n        complaints. <b>These occur at the same rate in people who never donated.<\/b><\/li>\n    <li><b>Average hospital stay: 6.7 days.<\/b><\/li>\n    <li><b>28% of donors who smoked gave up<\/b> after donating, and began paying closer\n        attention to their health generally.<\/li>\n    <li><b>Half of the donors who were single before donating were married afterwards.<\/b><\/li>\n    <li><b>No donor who wanted children was unable to have them.<\/b><\/li>\n    <li>Being a donor had no effect on relationships with spouses or friends in 70% of cases \u2014\n        and where it did have an effect within the family, it was <b>positive<\/b>.<\/li>\n    <li><b>85% remained in close contact<\/b> with the person who received their kidney.<\/li>\n  <\/ul>\n\n  <div class=\"box\">\n    <span class=\"etiket\">The figure that matters most<\/span>\n    <p><b>94.8% of donors said they would donate again<\/b> \u2014 for a relative if needed, or for\n      anyone after their death.<\/p>\n    <p>These are people answering years later, with the surgery, the recovery and the long\n      follow-up behind them.<\/p>\n  <\/div>\n\n  <div class=\"soru\">\n    <h3>Was everyone a willing donor?<\/h3>\n\n    <p>Almost, and it is worth being honest about the rest. <b>92% said they became donors\n       entirely voluntarily.<\/b> The other <b>8%<\/b> agreed because of a family decision, or\n       because they were the only medically eligible person in the family.<\/p>\n\n    <p>This is exactly why the process includes a signed statement that the donor is acting\n       <b>voluntarily and without pressure<\/b>, and why a psychologist sits on the council. If\n       you are being pushed, the transplant team is the right place to say so \u2014 and they will\n       listen.<\/p>\n  <\/div>\n\n  <h2>What the recipient gains<\/h2>\n\n  <p>The donor's risk has to be set against what it buys. For the person receiving the kidney:<\/p>\n\n  <ul>\n    <li>Life expectancy is extended by an average of <b>three times<\/b>.<\/li>\n    <li><b>80% return to the work they did before.<\/b> Young recipients can work, marry and\n        have children \u2014 men and women alike.<\/li>\n    <li>Death rate in the first year is <b>1\u20133%<\/b>, against <b>14\u201317%<\/b> for patients who\n        remain on dialysis.<\/li>\n    <li>If the transplanted kidney eventually fails, the patient can return to dialysis or\n        receive a second transplant. <b>After dialysis alone, there is no second option.<\/b><\/li>\n  <\/ul>\n\n  <div class=\"box efsane\">\n    <span class=\"etiket\">Worth sitting with<\/span>\n    <p>A family member on haemodialysis three times a week, or peritoneal exchange four times\n      a day, does not carry that alone. Hospital visits, tests, medication, nights spent\n      watching a fever \u2014 the whole household lives it, and it gets heavier over time.<\/p>\n    <p>The donor is not only giving an organ. They are giving <b>the family its ordinary life\n      back<\/b>.<\/p>\n  <\/div>\n\n  <div class=\"yazar\">\n    <div class=\"rozet\">MT<\/div>\n    <div>\n      <h3><a href=\"https:\/\/bookinghospital.org\/ro\/murat-tuncer-md\/\" style=\"color:inherit\">Profesorul Dr. Murat Tuncer<\/a><\/h3>\n      <p>Nephrologist and transplant physician. The 135-donor follow-up study described here was\n        conducted at his centre. Author of <i>Kidney Transplantation \u2014 With Questions and\n        Answers<\/i> (Istanbul, 2020).<\/p>\n    <\/div>\n  <\/div>\n\n  <div class=\"cta\">\n    <h2>Thinking about donating? Ask before you decide<\/h2>\n    <p>Send us your own test results \u2014 not the patient's. We will tell you honestly whether you\n       would be a suitable donor, including when the answer is no.<\/p>\n    <div class=\"btns\">\n      <a class=\"btn btn-1\" href=\"https:\/\/bookinghospital.org\/ro\/medical-tourism\/\">Send your medical reports<\/a>\n      <a class=\"btn btn-2\" href=\"\/ro\/category\/kidney-transplant-guide\/\">More patient guides<\/a>\n    <\/div>\n  <\/div>\n\n  <div class=\"uyari\">\n    <p><b>Medical disclaimer.<\/b> This article is general information adapted from a published\n      book. It is not personal medical advice, it does not establish a doctor\u2013patient\n      relationship, and it cannot replace assessment by the physician treating you. Donor\n      suitability is decided by a multidisciplinary council after detailed testing. Always\n      consult a transplant centre before making decisions about donation.<\/p>\n  <\/div>\n\n  <div class=\"kaynak\">\n    <h3>References<\/h3>\n    <ol>\n      <li>Ibrahim HN, Foley R, Tan L, et al. Long-term consequences of kidney donation.\n        <i>N Engl J Med<\/i> 2009;360:459\u201369.<\/li>\n      <li>Fehrman-Ekholm I, Elinder CG, Stenbeck M, Tyd\u00e9n G, Groth CG. Kidney donors live\n        longer. <i>Transplantation<\/i> 1997;64:976\u20138.<\/li>\n      <li>Segev DL, Muzaale AD, Caffo BS, et al. Perioperative mortality and long-term survival\n        following live kidney donation. <i>JAMA<\/i> 2010;303:959\u201366.<\/li>\n      <li>Knoll G, Cockfield S, Blydt-Hansen T, et al. Canadian Society of Transplantation\n        consensus guidelines on eligibility for kidney transplantation.\n        <i>CMAJ<\/i> 2005;173(10).<\/li>\n    <\/ol>\n  <\/div>\n\n<\/section>\n\n<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Kidney transplantation \u00b7 For the donor If I give my brother a kidney, what happens to me? This is the question that stops most transplants \u2014 and it deserves numbers, not reassurance. Here are the real figures, including what 135 of our own donors told us years afterwards. Written by Prof. Dr. Murat Tuncer \u00b7 [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"elementor_header_footer","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"set","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"_joinchat":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2952","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-kidney-transplant-guide"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bookinghospital.org\/ro\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2952","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bookinghospital.org\/ro\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bookinghospital.org\/ro\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bookinghospital.org\/ro\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bookinghospital.org\/ro\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2952"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/bookinghospital.org\/ro\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2952\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2960,"href":"https:\/\/bookinghospital.org\/ro\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2952\/revisions\/2960"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bookinghospital.org\/ro\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2952"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bookinghospital.org\/ro\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2952"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bookinghospital.org\/ro\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2952"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}