A kidney transplant is an operation to place a healthy (donor) kidney in your body to perform the functions when your own diseased kidneys can no longer perform.

Kidney transplantation is considered the best treatment for many people with severe CKD because quality of life and survival are often better than in people who use dialysis. However, there is a shortage of organs available for donation. Many people who are candidates for kidney transplantation are put on a transplant waiting list and require dialysis until an organ is available.

A kidney can come from a living relative, a living unrelated person, or from a person who has died (deceased or cadaver donor); only one kidney is required to survive. In general, organs from living donors function better and for longer periods of time than those from donors who are deceased.

Overall, transplant success rates are very good. Transplants from deceased donors have an 85 to 90% success rate for the first year. It means that after one year, 85 to 90 out of every 100 transplanted kidneys are still functioning. Live donor transplants have a 90 to 95% success rate. Long-term success is good for people of all ages.

WKD 2012 was devoted to spreading the message about the importance of organ donation and kidney transplantation for people with ESRD.