Kidney surgery for living donors occurs when a healthy person decides to donate a kidney to someone with kidney failure. Living kidney donation of a single kidney is possible because, although you have two kidneys, you can live a completely healthy life with only one functioning kidney.
During the procedure, a transplant surgeon will remove one healthy kidney from a living donor and place it inside the recipient's body.
Living donation can be considered for a family member, friend, co-worker, or even a complete stranger.
Living-donor kidney transplant:
Since 1988, UPMC surgeons have performed more than 2,600 living-donor kidney transplants, establishing them as a national leader in this advanced, life-saving procedure. We also offer donor exchange options, which provide patients with a shorter wait for an organ to become available.
Kidney surgery for living donors happens when a healthy living person decides to donate a kidney to someone with kidney failure. Living kidney donation of a single kidney is possible because, although you have two kidneys, you can live a perfectly healthy life with only one working kidney.
During the procedure, a transplant surgeon will remove one healthy kidney from a living donor and place it inside the recipient's body.
For a living-donor kidney transplant, the recipient's diseased or damaged kidneys usually are left in place. The donor's kidney is placed in the recipient's lower abdomen and connected to blood vessels and the bladder. The recipient's and donor's surgeries are carried out at the same time in different operating rooms.
Living-donor kidney transplant offers many advantages for people with chronic kidney disease and increases the number of deceased donor organs available for patients on the national transplant waiting list. Donors have the additional benefit of knowing that they have contributed to another person’s life in a very meaningful way.
At UPMC, our surgeons specialize in minimally invasive kidney surgery. In most cases, they can perform living-donor kidney surgery using laparoscopic and robotic technology. This reduces recovery time and the discomfort the donor experiences.
This approach uses small scopes and instruments inserted through three to four very small incisions to remove the kidney.
The smaller incisions reduce pain and discomfort for the donor, resulting in a shorter hospital stay and a rapid return to normal activity. Most donors are ready to return to work and normal activity within four weeks of surgery.
UPMC surgeons utilize advanced technologies and robotic systems to assist with transplant surgeries. As a result, we perform exclusively minimally invasive robotic techniques for living donor kidney procedures. Using a robotic system instead of traditional or open surgery allows surgeons to achieve greater precision, cause less tissue damage, and improve visualization — making it easier to access hard-to-reach areas.
In 2024, UPMC kidney transplant surgeons performed a robotic nephrectomy on a living donor using the multiport robotic surgery system, da Vinci Xi® by Intuitive. The UPMC Kidney Transplant Program at UPMC Harrisburg was the first program in central Pennsylvania to use this robotic system.
Kidney surgery for living donors happens when a healthy living person decides to donate a kidney to someone with kidney failure.
Any person in good health can be evaluated as a living donor — the donor can be a blood relative or unrelated to the recipient.
Living donors can include:
The best possible donors for a transplant are siblings (brothers or sisters), parents, or children of the recipient. The next preferred donors are other relatives (half-brothers or sisters, grandparents, cousins, etc.).
Other donors that can be considered are unrelated donors (spouses, friends, coworkers) and nondirected donors (people willing to donate to a person in need, without knowing or having any emotional attachment to the recipient).
Potential living kidney donors should:
At UPMC, we carefully evaluate potential living donors to reduce their risk of complications when they donate their kidney. We perform comprehensive medical and psychosocial exams to determine risk for surgery and follow-up needs after surgery.
Living kidney donors must have a compatible blood type with the recipient. Donor/recipient pairs that are not blood-type compatible may be eligible for a paired exchange transplant. Also known as a “swap,” paired donation transplant occurs when two or more kidney recipients trade with willing donors.
A standard set of selection criteria is used to determine if it is safe or appropriate for a person to be a living kidney donor.
The following conditions must be met for a patient to be considered as a living donor at UPMC:
The following may prevent a candidate from being eligible for living donation:
With any surgical procedure, there are also inherent risks that both the kidney donor and recipient must carefully consider. Our transplant physicians and coordinators will outline and discuss all of the potential risks of the transplant.
For kidney donors, the process includes the following steps:
After you complete an online living kidney donor registration form, a member of our team will reach out to schedule your pre-donation evaluation at the kidney donor evaluation site closest to you.
Fill out the online living kidney donor registration form for the closest transplant center:
During your pre-donation evaluation, your care team will schedule you for medical tests or consults with other experts.
Your kidney transplant coordinator will provide you with a list of these tests and any special instructions about:
You will also receive details about what to expect from kidney donation surgery, including recovery and ways to help you return to daily activities.
You'll have the chance to ask questions at any point during your pre-donation evaluation. You should leave your visit with a clear understanding of the risks involved with your kidney donation and the overall donation and recovery process. Both you and your caregiver need to also understand the commitment required to see the process through to completion.
Throughout the living-donation process, donors will interact with a multidisciplinary team of kidney transplant experts, including:
This team will determine if you are suitable for living donation.
If cleared to donate an organ, donors will be assigned an independent living-donor advocate to act on their behalf. The living-donor advocate helps to ensure the donor is fully aware of what it means to be a living donor and understands the risks of the transplant surgery.
The living-donor advocate will voice any concerns of the donor to the multidisciplinary transplant team and will determine that the donor’s decision is fully informed.
UPMC offers the opportunity for potential living kidney donors to speak with someone who has already been a living donor. If you’d like to connect with a mentor who can share their personal experience with you, please reach out to your transplant coordinator or living donor liaison.
The transplant surgeons at UPMC use minimally invasive laparoscopic and robotic surgical techniques to perform donor surgery. This reduces recovery time and the discomfort the donor experiences.
Your doctor will provide instructions for how to prepare for your donor nephrectomy, which may include:
Donor nephrectomy procedures take about three hours.
After surgery, donors can expect to be hospitalized for two to three days and can expect to return to work and regular activity about four weeks after surgery.
Following surgery, kidney donors and recipients are placed under the care of our dedicated transplant team until they can leave the hospital.
At UPMC, we understand that everyone recovers differently. Our kidney transplant team will work with you to provide a personalized treatment plan that meets your needs after kidney donation surgery.
Most living-kidney donors take up to two months to fully recover, depending on their occupation. During this recovery period, you will visit the hospital for routine post-donation check-ups, which follow the guidelines of the United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS).
The first follow-up visit takes place one to two weeks after kidney donation surgery to obtain lab results, which include monitoring of your serum creatinine level, protein level, and blood pressure.
To ensure appropriate healing, you are required to visit the hospital for additional post-surgery check-ups for lab work.
These visits occur at:
A living-donor transplant nurse coordinator will be in touch with reminders about these follow-up appointments and to ensure that you have not experienced issues related to your donation.
You will not have any dietary restrictions and will not need to be on any medications related to the donation. After your incision(s) have healed, you should experience no difference in your energy level, ability on the job, life expectancy, susceptibility to illness, or sexual functioning.
Immediately after kidney donation, the donor's kidney function is temporarily reduced by half until the remaining kidney compensates for the missing kidney. This takes approximately two to four weeks.
After the initial phase of recovery, the donor’s kidney function will be 65% to 75% percent of function before donation, which is more than adequate to support the donor's needs.
You should let your surgeon know if you have:
Most living kidney donors can return to normal activities within a few weeks of their donor nephrectomy procedure and experience no long-term complications.
UPMC's kidney transplant team works with potential kidney donors and recipients throughout the entire living-donor kidney transplant process.
Before surgery, we ensure that donors can return to living full and active lives with one kidney.
If you're thinking of donating your kidney, find out more:
When you choose UPMC for living-donor kidney transplant care, you will receive:
By UPMC Editorial Staff. Last reviewed on 2025-12-09.
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