Renal transplantation is the standard of care for those patients with end-stage renal disease (ESRD) who meet the criteria for transplantation. Renal transplantation improves quality of life, increases longevity of the patient and eliminates most of the complications associated with end-stage renal disease. Living donor kidneys are the optimal source of organs for transplantation in these patients, as living donor kidneys significantly reduce waiting time, cold ischemia time (CIT) (time from removal of the kidney to re-implantation) and incidence of delayed graft function.
For example, a living donor kidney transplant performed in 2001 had an approximate half-life of 18-20 years. This meant that 50% of such living donor kidneys should have lasted, 18-20 years on average, which is significantly longer than a cadaveric kidney. An alternative way of viewing this is that the expected 10-year graft survival for patients who received a living donor kidney transplant at that time was 64% based upon those patients transplanted for glomerular disease.
Renal transplantation medical expert witness specialties include urology, nephrology, pediatric surgery, transplant surgery, and pediatric nephrology.