Kidney Transplant Pros and Cons

The decision to have a transplant done is very subjective, and there is no simple advice that can be given that is applicable to any except a specific case. We went through the whole decision-making process with Coco, and had her previously undiagnosed heart condition not been discovered during the pre-screening at UC Davis, we were prepared to have it done immediately.

The factors involved are like any other decision: risk vs anticipated gain. As Susie mentioned in a recent post, Davis quotes an 80% success rate. This means a one in five chance of losing your friend as a result of the operation. As life-saving operations go, this is probably a very good ratio. However, if there is no immediate expectation of succombing to the disease, it is not necessarily so enticing.

In theory, the ideal time for a transplant is thought to be at the very beginning of a final decline. The patient should be healthy enough to withstand the operation, but near enough to the end of the useful life of the existing kidneys to justify the risk. A cat with early or middle stage CRF can have a reasonable life expectancy under traditional aggressive care with sub-q's and the other treatments we discuss all the time. If surgery is done in the early stages, it might not measureably prolong the life expectancy of the cat. It would definitely, however, subject the patient to the risks of surgery and the dependence on expensive anti-rejection drugs for life.

Transplantation is a godsend, which we should be grateful to have available when needed. It is not a cure-all, and it does not make the need for care go away.