Kidney Transplant Evaluation

During a kidney transplant evaluation, a transplant coordinator will arrange for a series of tests to evaluate your treatment options. You will be evaluated for potential medical problems such as heart disease, infections, bladder dysfunction, ulcer disease, and obesity. A social worker will discuss the transportation, housing, financial and family support needs related to the transplant, and a financial advisor will discuss the benefits of your insurance policy.

We want you to learn as much as possible about the transplant process before making a decision.

Screening tests

Regardless of whether you receive a kidney from a living or deceased donor, you will need to undergo special blood tests to determine your blood and tissue type. These tests help us match you to a donor kidney.

Blood group. The first test determines the blood group. There are four blood types: A, B, AB, and O. The recipient and donor must have the same or compatible blood group.

If your blood group is A, your donor blood group should be A or O.
If your blood group is B, your donor blood group should be B or O.
If your blood type is AB (universal recipient), the donor blood type can be A, B, AB or O.
If your blood type is O (universal donor), the donor blood type should be O.