(LOS ANGELES, California) – Sometimes, the gift of life can be “re-gifted” – and should be, says a prominent kidney surgeon. Kidney retransplantation – transplanting a kidney that has been transplanted once before – has only been performed a handful of times. Dr. Jeffrey Veale, director of the UCLA Kidney Transplantation Exchange Program at Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center has successfully performed this rare procedure — which was once considered taboo — on three occasions, and is calling on the medical community to make this standard practice.
“About 20 to 25 percent of patients who have a kidney transplant die with a functioning kidney,” Veale says. “There are so many years left on those kidneys that could save other people.”
In his most recent procedure, the final recipient was a 70-year old woman who had been on dialysis for nearly 10 years, and may not have received a kidney otherwise. “People who have kidney transplants can die just like any of us,” Veale says.“I don’t want to see a healthy kidney that was functioning well after a transplant go to waste.”
In the U.S. today, about 115,000 people are waiting for life-saving organ donations, and of those, more than 100,000 need a kidney transplant. Currently, less than 20 percent of patients on the list receive a transplant. Re-transplantation could save hundreds of lives per year, Veale estimates.
Expanding the viable donor pool is crucial to patients with chronic kidney disease, as an estimated 300 million Americans are expected to go on dialysis over the next decade. “Even if we do this and save five lives, it’s worth it,” Veale says.
