Today, due to improvements in immunosuppressant medications to prevent organ rejection, just about everyone with end-stage renal disease is a good candidate for a transplant.

HIV Patients
People with HIV who are infection-free are now suitable for a transplant. Some people with HIV develop IgA nephropathy. This is a common form of glomerulonephritis, a disease that damages the tiny filtering units of the kidney called glomeruli. When glomeruli are damaged, the kidney loses its ability to clear wastes from the body. In some patients, the loss of kidney function progresses to chronic kidney failure, requiring dialysis treatment or a kidney transplant. With HIV patients, the transplant team works closely with the Infectious Disease specialists at Einstein, and the prognosis for these patients is extremely good -- the same as for Hepatitis C patients.

ABO-Incompatible Transplantation
There is an advanced living donor transplantation procedure available at Einstein Medical Center called ABO-Incompatible Transplantation. This procedure allows transplants to be performed with a donor and recipient who have incompatible blood types. In the past, this transplant was not possible because antibodies caused immediate rejection of the kidney. Today, a procedure called plasmapheresis removes these antibodies, and medications are available to prevent the antibodies from being re-made once they have been removed. This technique offers another option for patients who have a living donor with an incompatible blood type.

Highly-Sensitized Patients
It is difficult to find a compatible donor for patients who have a lot of antibodies. Transplantation is now an option for these patients due to advances in medications which lower their antibody levels.