[7] It was not until 17 June 1950, when a successful transplant was performed on Ruth Tucker, a 44-year-old woman with polycystic kidney disease, by Dr. Richard Lawler at Little Company of Mary Hospital in Evergreen Park, Illinois.

[12] In 1955, Charles Rob, William James "Jim" Dempster (St Marys and Hammersmith, London) carried out the first deceased donor transplant in United Kingdom, which was unsuccessful.

[citation needed] In July 1959, "Fred" Peter Raper (Leeds) performed the first successful (8 months) deceased donor transplant in the UK.

A year later, in 1960, the first successful living kidney transplant in the UK occurred, when Michael Woodruff performed one between identical twins in Edinburgh.

Prednisolone suppresses the immune system, but its long-term use at high doses causes a multitude of side effects, including glucose intolerance and diabetes, weight gain, osteoporosis, muscle weakness, hypercholesterolemia, and cataract formation.

However, some research seem to suggest that immunosuppressive drugs and antiretrovirals may work synergistically to help both HIV viral loads/CD4 cell counts and prevent active rejection.

[citation needed] As candidates for a significant elective surgery, potential kidney donors are carefully screened to assure good long term outcomes.

[16] The medical screening assesses the general health and surgical risk of the donor including for conditions that might indicate complications from living with a single kidney.

Specific rules vary by transplant center, but key exclusion criteria often include: Since medication to prevent rejection is so effective, donors do not need to be similar to their recipients.

In February 2012, this novel approach to expand the living donor pool resulted in the largest chain in the world, involving 60 participants organized by the National Kidney Registry.

[29] The shipment of living donor kidneys, computer-matching software algorithms, and cooperation between transplant centers has enabled long-elaborate chains to be formed.

[30] In 2004, the FDA approved the Cedars-Sinai High Dose IVIG therapy which reduces the need for the living donor to be the same blood type (ABO compatible) or even a tissue match.

[32] In carefully screened kidney donors, survival and the risk of end-stage renal disease appear to be similar to those in the general population.

[35] Women who have donated a kidney have a higher risk of gestational hypertension and preeclampsia than matched nondonors with similar indicators of baseline health.

[36] Traditionally, the donor procedure has been through a single incision of 4–7 inches (10–18 cm), but live donation is being increasingly performed by laparoscopic surgery.

In January 2009, the first all-robotic kidney transplant was performed at Saint Barnabas Medical Center, located in Livingston, New Jersey, through a two-inch incision.

One surgeon has said that organ trade could be legalised in the UK to prevent such tourism, but this is not seen by the National Kidney Research Fund as the answer to a deficit in donors.

During the operation, the aorta will be cannulated, after which the donor's blood will be replaced by an ice-cold storage solution, such as UW (Viaspan), HTK, or Perfadex.

Due to the temperature of the solution, and since large amounts of cold NaCl-solution are poured over the organs for a rapid cooling, the heart will stop pumping.

'Donation after Cardiac Death' donors are patients who do not meet the brain-dead criteria but, due to the unlikely chance of recovery, have elected via a living will or through family to have support withdrawn.

Several ethical and procedural guidelines must be followed; most importantly, the organ recovery team should not participate in the patient's care in any manner until after death has been declared.

Since December 2015, Human Transplantation (Wales) Act 2013 passed by the Welsh Government has enabled an opt-out organ donation register, the first country in the UK to do so.

In 2004, the FDA approved the Cedars-Sinai High Dose IVIG therapy which reduces the need for the living donor to be the same blood type (ABO compatible) or even a tissue match.

No reason is explicitly put forth; however, one can assume the rationale is similar to that of Campbell, i.e. to ensure that the renal pelvis and ureter are most anterior in the event that future surgical correction becomes necessary.

[66] Ciclosporin, considered a breakthrough immunosuppressive when first discovered in the 1980s, ironically causes nephrotoxicity and can result in iatrogenic damage to the newly transplanted kidney.

Imaging also allows evaluation of supportive structures such as the anastomosed transplant artery, vein, and ureter, to ensure they are stable in appearance.

These food products are known to interact with the transplant medications, specifically tacrolimus, cyclosporin and sirolimus; the blood levels of these drugs may be increased, potentially leading to an overdose.

[80] Cytomegalovirus (CMV) is the most common opportunistic infection that may occur after a kidney and other solid organ transplants and is a risk factor for graft failure or acute rejection.

A recent study also suggests that the muscle wasting and frailty that occur during prolonged dialysis has a negative impact on a patient's physical functioning post transplantation.

[101] The practice has been shown to be effective in mitigating the dramatic geographic disparity in the waiting time for organ transplants,[102] particularly for patients residing in high-demand regions such as Boston.