Kidney transplantation is a complex field that incorporates several different specialties to manage the transplant patient. This book was created because of the importance of kidney transplantation. This volume focuses on the complexities of the transplant patient. In particular, there is a focus on the comorbidities and special considerations for a transplant patient and how they affect kidney transplant outcomes. Contributors to this book are from all over the world and are experts in their individual fields. They were all individually approached to add a chapter to this book and with their efforts this book was formed. Understanding the Complexities of Kidney Transplantation gives the reader an excellent foundation to build upon to truly understand kidney transplantation.

This popular handbook is a practical guide for physicians, surgeons, nurses, and other professionals who manage kidney transplant patients. It is concise, readable, and well-illustrated. Chapters outline the major concerns surrounding renal transplantation and the most successful approaches to problems arising in short-term and long-term patient care. Chapter topics include immunobiology and immunosuppression, as well as chapters on surgery, histocompatibility, and the first three months post-transplant surgery. This thoroughly updated Fifth Edition includes new information on options for patients with end-stage renal disease, immunosuppressive medications and protocols for kidney transplantation, and the first two months following transplant.

The here presented book covers different areas of clinical and scientific interest, reaching from donor evaluation to newest methods in immunological diagnostics. But also aspects of daily care of transplant recipients can be found in the carefully selected chapters. Everything driven by the aim to improve the care for all of our transplanted patients.

In Kidney to Share, Martha Gershun tells the story of her decision to donate a kidney to a stranger. She takes readers through the complex process by which such donors are vetted to ensure that they are physically and psychologically fit to take the risk of a major operation. John D. Lantos, a physician and bioethicist, places Gershun's story in the larger context of the history of kidney transplantation and the ethical controversies that surround living donors. Together, they help readers understand the discoveries that made transplantation relatively safe and effective as well as the legal, ethical, and economic policies that make it feasible. Gershun and Lantos explore the steps involved in recovering and allocating organs. They analyze the differences that arise depending on whether the organ comes from a living donor or one who has died. They observe the expertise—and the shortcomings—of doctors, nurses, and other professionals and describe the burdens that we place on people who are willing to donate. In this raw and vivid book, Gershun and Lantos ask us to consider just how far society should go in using one person's healthy body parts in order to save another person. Kidney to Share provides an account of organ donation that is both personal and analytical. The combination of perspectives leads to a profound and compelling exploration of a largely opaque practice. Gershun and Lantos pull back the curtain to offer readers a more transparent view of the fascinating world of organ donation.

ABO incompatible kidney transplantation is indicated for patients for whom no ABO-identical or minor mismatch donor is available. Since the author and his colleagues performed the first ABO-incompatible kidney transplantation in Japan in 1989, 400 such transplantations have been performed in 41 hospitals in Japan and this practice has contributed to a number of new developments. One is a clearer and more suitable model for conceptualising the mechanism of humoral immune response which enables identification of antigens and antibodies and a therapeutic strategy against rejection. The rejection mechanisms are discussed not only from the perspective of immunology but also viewed from different angles, including anatomy, microscopic and macroscopic pathology, molecular biology and haematology. Immunosuppressive therapy is discussed, divided in four categories: extracorporeal immunomodulation with removal of humoral antibodies; drug therapy to suppress cellular immunity; splenectomy; and anticoagulation therapy. Surgical procedures for kidney transplantation and splenectomy are treated, including discussion of the best timing for the latter. The book gives an overview of the current status with statistics and results of questionnaires and ends with discussions of 17 case histories.

There are many obstacles in kidney transplantation. For the transplant team, there is the balance between immunosuppression to aid in the recipient's tolerance of the allograft and the infection risk of a suppressed immune system. These potential long term complications of kidney transplantation are relatively well known, but there are many other complications that patients and families do not consider when preparing themselves for a kidney transplant. Although the benefits of attempting a kidney transplant far outweigh downfalls of the long term sequelae, kidney transplantation is by no means a benign procedure. It is the hope of these authors that the reader will leave with a sense of understanding towards the kidney recipients.