Rhode Island Hospital Kidney Transplant Center
Standard of Care
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Raising the bar of excellence
Living kidney donors are unique patients in the field of medicine. These patients are free from medical disease and undergo a major surgical procedure for the benefit of a loved one. The medical team owes a particularly high level of care to these individuals.
In the past, donor kidneys were recovered from a long incision in the flank (over the rib cage). This incision was adopted from the urologic procedure for removing diseased kidneys. However, a healthy donor kidney can be safely removed from a small anterior incision or even recovered using minimally invasive surgery (laparoscopic surgery).
Since 2005, living donors at the Rhode Island Hospital transplant program have undergone nephrectomy via mini-incision live donor (MILD) or via the laparoscopic approach, removing the kidney through smaller incisions and allowing for quicker recovery time. Both techniques result in improved donor comfort. Donors typically walk within hours of their surgery, resume a normal diet in 1-2 days and are discharged 2-4 days after surgery.
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