Kidney Transplant Program
Kidney Transplant Volumes and Outcomes at CHKD
Volumes:
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Outcomes:
Our one-year and three-year pediatric kidney transplant survival rates are unsurpassed at 100 percent.
Dedicated Kidney Center for Children
Since 2005, pediatric kidney transplant services have been provided within CHKD Health System at our main hospital in Norfolk, Virginia. CHKD’s kidney transplant program is the regional pediatric referral center for southeastern Virginia, the Eastern Shore of Virginia, and northeastern North Carolina. Transplantation services are delivered in both an inpatient and outpatient setting. To offer patients more efficient and convenient lab testing, appointments and tests are available at CHKD locations throughout the community. Transplant evaluation, waitlist, and recent post-transplant visits occur in the CHKD Kidney Center (nephrology clinic) at our main hospital.
Expert Care for Children with Chronic Kidney Disease
We’re focused on providing specialized and comprehensive care to children, adolescents, and young adults with end-stage kidney disease.
The conditions leading to transplant in children are typically different than those leading to transplant in adults. CHKD brings pediatric expertise to the care of those with congenital and acquired kidney diseases. Our multidisciplinary team works together to provide a patient and family-centered approach which meets a child’s needs from infancy to young adulthood.
Transplant Team Members
Led by transplant surgical director Duncan Yoder, MD and transplant surgeon Amber Carrier, MD, our team includes the following specialists from throughout the hospital:
- Transplant pediatric nephrologists
- Transplant surgeons
- Pediatric urologists
- Transplant coordinators
- Social workers
- Registered dietitians
- Nephrology clinic nurses
- Pediatric renal dialysis nurses
- Transplant pharmacist
- Financial coordinators
- Child life specialists
Kidney Transplant Treatment Options
CHKD’s pediatric kidney transplant program provides a variety of options for transplantation. For example, transplanting adult-sized kidneys into infants and children, directed living donations, paired-exchange kidney transplant, advanced-living donations, and deceased-donor transplantation.
After a patient is found to be a suitable transplant candidate, their medical information is sent to the United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS) for placement on the national kidney transplant waiting list. The waiting period for a deceased-donor kidney can take several days, weeks, months, or years.
The CHKD kidney transplant team encourages living donor transplantation whenever possible. A kidney transplanted from a living donor offers distinct advantages compared to that of a deceased donor. There is a shorter wait time for the recipient, faster recovery with most living-donor kidneys functioning immediately, and there is also evidence that living donor kidneys last longer.
Since June 2011, living kidney donor services have been provided by Sentara Norfolk General Hospital to better serve the unique needs of adult living-donor patients. Sentara's living-kidney donor program supports the full evaluation, recovery, and follow-up for living donors of the pediatric kidney transplant program at CHKD. Sentara is also located on the Eastern Virginia Medical Center campus and is physically connected to CHKD, which allows living donors to visit with their pediatric recipient during their hospital stay.
For incompatible living donor-recipient pairs, CHKD and Sentara participate in the National Kidney Registry (NKR), a program that matches incompatible donor-recipient pairs through a nationwide pool. The program allows a recipient who has a willing donor that may not be an appropriate match or is living elsewhere in the United States to swap with another recipient-donor pair.
Dedicated Pediatric Renal Dialysis Unit
The majority of children who come to our hospital for kidney transplants do so while receiving dialysis. In the pediatric dialysis unit at CHKD, our team works closely with patients and family members to ensure that children with kidney failure receive the best medical attention possible.
