Living or Deceased Kidneys?
If you are in need of a kidney or kidney/pancreas transplant and have family members who are interested in donating, a living related kidney transplant may be possible. Sometimes patients have a spouse or good friend who is interested in donating a kidney or a kidney and a portion of their pancreas. This type of transplant is called a living unrelated transplant because the recipient and donor are not related genetically. More than 60% of patients do not have living donors available to them or the individuals interested in donating cannot donate for medical reasons. These patients are then placed on the waiting list to receive a deceased donor transplant. • Waiting List The organ waiting list is part of a nationwide computerized network called UNET, managed by the United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS) . All transplant centers in the United States belong to UNOS. UNOS is responsible for continuously updating the list, in order to provide accurate transplantation and donation informati
