Are There Alternative Treatments?

A person on regular dialysis for ESRD must not stop. For this group of patients, dialysis is keeping them alive. The only alternative treatment is a kidney transplant.

During a transplant, a healthy organ from either a deceased donor or a living donor is transplanted into the patient with ESRD. This healthy kidney will take over blood-filtering functions for the body, so dialysis is no longer required.

To begin the kidney transplant process, a patient with ESRD must be evaluated at a transplant center and added to the regional kidney transplant waiting list. More than 95,000 patients are on the waiting list nationally, so patients may wait several years for a deceased-donor transplant and will typically receive dialysis treatments during this time.

But patients can shorten their wait time if they identify a suitable living donor.

A living-donor kidney transplant typically has better outcomes than a deceased-donor transplant and often allows a transplant to take place within a few weeks to months, minimizing time spent on dialysis. It also makes a positive impact on the entire transplant community.