Once your evaluation is completed and you have been approved as a donor, the next challenge is scheduling the date for transplant surgery. Since doctors will want the recipient to be in optimal shape, surgery can be delayed weeks -- or longer -- while the recipient's medical problems are treated.

When the date is set, another crossmatch test will be given within the week prior to surgery. The day before surgery (or possibly even a couple of days before), you and the recipient will be asked to go to the hospital for final preadmission testing, paperwork, and a meeting with the anesthesiologist.

You probably will be admitted to the hospital the night prior to the surgery (though some hospitals don't admit donors until the morning of the surgery). Admission the night before is viewed as preferable, because in addition to not being able to eat or drink anything after midnight, you should be well hydrated prior to surgery by intravenous fluids.

When it is time for your surgery, you will be taken to the operating room, where the anesthesiologist will give you a medication through your IV to put you to sleep.

Kidney Donors:

While you are under anesthesia, the surgeon will proceed in one of two manners:

Open nephrectomy. This most frequently involves making an incision on the side of the kidney to be removed. The surgeon then clamps off the kidney artery vein and ureter, removes the kidney, flushes it and places it in a cold preservative solution.

Laparoscopic nephrectomy. This increasingly common procedure involves making several small incisions in your abdomen. The surgeon then inserts laparoscopes -- devices that allow the surgeon to see and operate. The surgeon separates the kidney and ureter away from the surrounding tissue, and staples the artery vein and ureter before removing the kidney through a small incision below the belly button. It is then flushed and placed in a cold preservative solution.

After surgery, which can take two to four hours, you will be moved to a recovery room. A catheter will have been inserted during anesthesia to remove urine from your bladder -- which will be measured to ensure that your remaining kidney is functioning adequately. When you regain consciousness and are stable, you will be taken to your regular hospital room.

Once your bladder and GI tract are operational, your ability to go home will be a function of your recovery from the temporary discomfort of the surgery.

With laparoscopic surgery, patients frequently go home within 2 to 3 days after surgery. With an open nephrectomy, 3 or 4 days in the hospital postoperatively is more common.

Liver Donors:

While you are under anesthesia, assuming that your right lobe is the one to be donated, you will be placed on your back with your arm raised above the head. A large incision will be made along the flank and access to your liver -- which is on the right side of your body -- will be gained using rib spreaders. The veins, bile ducts, and arteries of the lobe are separated, but the blood flow to the lobe is preserved until the time they are clamped and cut. The right lobe is then removed, flushed, and placed in a preservative solution.

With some donors, when veins and arteries of the liver are not sufficiently large for transplantation, a portion of the sapheous vein in your leg may be removed for use in connecting the donated liver to the recipient.

After surgery, which can take up to eight hours, you will be moved to a recovery room. When you regain consciousness, you will be moved to the Intensive Care Unit of the hospital where you will remain overnight for observation. When your condition is stable, you will be moved to a hospital room.

Assuming that all goes well, you probably will be able to go home in one to two weeks (though your stay may be longer if there are any complications).

As with all information provided in this site, it 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.