Living Related KIDNEY Donors:

Of the more than 20,000 transplant operations performed each year, none has a higher prospect of success than a living related kidney transplant.

The most common of these -- the transplant of a kidney from one sibling to another -- is the only transplant operation where five years after surgery, more than 80 percent of the transplanted organs are still functioning.

One reason for this is the laws of heredity make siblings the most likely to be a good HLA (human leukocyte antigen) match for the recipient, which historically has meant the least likelihood of the recipient's body attempting to "reject" the donated kidney.

There is a 25 percent chance that a sibling will have identical human leukocyte antigens (HLA), a 50 percent chance that a sibling will be a 50 percent match, and only a 25 percent chance that a sibling will be a zero match.

The only potential donor where prospects would be higher is the rare case of an identical twin.

More than 40 percent of all living donors give an organ to a sibling.

But organs donated by a parent to a child or child to a parent (either of whom as a donor would be at least a 50 percent match), or even by a more distant blood relative such as a grandparent, still tend to give the recipient a 10 percent better chance of having a functioning organ five years later than would be the case with a cadaveric kidney.

Please see the data tables for more information on the living donor kidney success rates.

Living Related LIVER Donors:

In the case of living related liver transplants, most donors historically have been parents giving part of their liver to a small child.

These operations have come in many cases as a last resort, when no suitable cadaveric liver was available for a child near death.

With an increasing number of living donor liver transplants in the past three years involving adult recipients, meaningful data on the relationship of donors to recipients -- and the comparative success rates -- is not yet available.

All information provided in this site is offered for educational purposes only, and it is not intended nor implied to be a substitute for professional medical advice. Always consult your own physician or healthcare provider with any questions you may have regarding a medical condition.