You will be asked for the names, addresses, dates of birth, and phone numbers of all the people who may be interested in donating a kidney. The laboratory will then contact them to see if they would be willing to send in several tubes of blood for testing. It does not matter where the potential donor lives. The blood samples can be mailed to the laboratory. After the blood is received, it is tested to see if you are compatible with the donor.
All testing is confidential.
We always hope there is a brother or sister who is an identical match, but transplants from parents, grown children and close friends also get excellent results. Although the best results are obtained with living donor kidneys, many people do not have a compatible living donor and need to wait on the list for a cadaveric kidney. Cadaveric kidneys come from organ donors who have been declared brain dead. After the donor is pronounced dead, the family must give consent for donation. Laparoscopic nephrectomies allow for kidney removal from the donor by multiple but smaller incisions.