Rachel: A living donor kidney transplant tends to last between 15 and 20 years, sometimes longer, and a deceased donor transplant lasts about half as long, between 8 and 12 years on average. Some of our older teenagers have already received or are in the process of evaluations for a second transplant, because in fact they’ve exhausted their previous transplant, and that’s something that’s expected. Nothing went wrong, it’s just expected. And some of the other patients that have had previous transplants, something may have happened in between, and that’s not that uncommon either. That can happen.

Courtney: When they’re getting close to needing a new transplant, you start seeing the creatinine rise. We know it’s coming by the numbers, by the presentation, and by biopsy in some cases.

Rachel: And we see them more often when we see that rise, and it’s more of a chronic state than an acute process, so we typically know which kids are where in their courses and expect to see them on a more regular basis when they are not doing as well.

Courtney Loper, RN, MSN, CPNP and Rachel Blumenthal, RN, BSN, CNN, Transplant Coordinators, Kidney Transplant Program