Osmoregulation & The Kidney - Kidney Transplantation (GCSE Biology)
Kidney Transplantation
Kidney Transplants
Kidney Donation
- Kidney transplants are currently the only way to cure kidney disease.
- A healthy kidney is transplanted from a a donor who has consented to be a donor. This means that they have a donor card or are on the organ donor register.
- A donor can be living or someone who has recently died. As we have 2 kidneys, a living donor can donate one of their healthy kidneys.
- In the long term, transplants may be preferred over dialysis for patients. This is because, in the long term, they are cheaper than dialysis and offer more comfort to patients as they don’t have to keep spending hours on dialysis.
Organ Rejection
- Sometimes the donated kidney can be rejected by the patient’s body. This is because the patient’s immune system doesn’t recognise the kidney as its own but sees it as a foreign body. Hence, it produces antibodies that attack the donated kidney.
- Measures can be taken to prevent rejection. You can find a kidney with a tissue type that matches closely to the tissue type of the patient. You can also give the patient immunosuppressive drugs. These suppress the immune system so that the immune system doesn’t attack the donated kidney.
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