Graham is about the fifth Kentucky patient to get one. About four of the procedures were done earlier this fall at Jewish Hospital in Louisville, said Dr. Frederick Bentley, who handled those operations. Jewish, UK and Louisville's Kosair Children's Hospital are the only Kentucky hospitals licensed for kidney transplants. The new technique benefits the kidney donor. A large incision still is necessary for placing the new kidney in the recipient.
Kidney transplants are the most common organ transplant operations.
About 12,000 are performed annually. Roughly 70 percent of the time, the transplant kidney is taken from a cadaver. Only around 30 percent of kidney transplants involve a live donor, even though experts say that transplant success rates are slightly higher with kidneys donated by living people. But sometimes, even when potential donors are available, they don't, or can't, donate because of long time commitment involved. Sometimes, the recipients themselves just don't want to put the donors through this big operation and long recovery.