Thread

1. JohnTHaller · 1791059897 · focus · HN ↗

   I donated a kidney to my Dad in 2000. It gave him an extra 23 years with us. He was on very low doses of his anti-rejection meds, partially due to us being a 4 out of 6 HLA type match, so the doctors were hopeful it would last him the rest of his life. It would have lasted far longer if ALS hadn't shown up.

   1. saulpw · 1791060434 · focus · HN ↗

      Could you have gotten it back after he passed away? Or was the kidney forwarded on to someone else?

      1. throwawayk7h · 1791060951 · focus · HN ↗

         Not sure why your question is being downvoted. I think it would be fascinating to read about a kidney making a journey from son to father to son.
      2. Faaak · 1791061140 · focus · HN ↗

         I don't know why you're being downvoted, because this is an interesting question to me at least
      3. gertop · 1791063587 · focus · HN ↗

         You can't get it back there's nothing to attach it to. There's also no point for the risks involved.

         Organs can be transplanted twice but it's very rare and it's usually when the first recipient dies shortly after the transplant. It's called (quite obviously) retransplantation if you want to Google it.

      4. JohnTHaller · 1791068618 · focus · HN ↗

         Kidney transplantation is major surgery with decent risks. Donation carries a certain level of risk as well but less than being a recipient. When I donated, the chance of dying was about 1 in 4,000.

         Since I donated, my remaining kidney has grown larger and taken over a chunk of the function of my missing kidney. If possible, getting it back would only give me a relatively small benefit compared to the risk of the surgery. First, I'd have a spare again for major injuries meaning I'd be 'allowed' to do things like contact sports and such. It's recommended you don't do things that could result in an impact to your kidney when you don't have a spare. I did violate this once by going skydiving, though.

         Second, I'd be able to take anti-inflammatory meds without restrictions. That is an annoying one as when I injured my rotator cuff years ago, the normal recommendation was a month of high-dose anti-inflammatory meds. Since I couldn't do that, I had to do physical therapy and injected steroids which was much more involved and more expensive.

         Note that a transplanted kidney can be re-transplanted depending on the health of the recipient when they die. It's not as common but it has been more in recent years. It's often referred to as "regifting".

         1. hinkley · 1791104644 · focus · HN ↗

            Your kidney is probably peppered with your dad’s stem cells which means you’d have to be on antirejection medications just like he was.

            1. f6v · 1791116582 · focus · HN ↗

               > peppered with your dad’s stem cells

               Not sure which “stem cells” you mean, but I think the recipient’s immune cells colonize the graft. Which means they’d start attacking the original donor(graft versus host disease in reverse).

               1. hinkley · 1791143498 · focus · HN ↗

                  In an organ, wouldn’t the immune cells migrate throughout the entire body due to circulation?

                  Stem cells do move through the body from time to time, so I would expect the donated organ to become a bit chimeric over time.

                  <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;onlinelibrary.wiley.com&#x2F;doi&#x2F;10.1111&#x2F;jcmm.13422" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;onlinelibrary.wiley.com&#x2F;doi&#x2F;10.1111&#x2F;jcmm.13422

                  But you’re probably correct that the immune cells transferred would also be the same problem. But that’s what anti rejection drugs are meant to deal with, aren’t they?

                  Assuming two people have the same blood type, I believe the compatibility factors are reciprocal between two people, aren’t they? So if you and I are compatible, and of the same level of health, then if we swapped kidneys we should each have about the same risk factors for rejection.

                  But if as some people were asking, we took a transplanted organ and transplanted again, the compatibilities are not reciprocal any more, and I would not be surprised if you had to assay all three people to figure out the compatibility of the organ. Since it’s my tissue (and perhaps a bit of yours), your T cells, and the recipient’s immune system all having to get along, at least until your immune cells age out, and perhaps longer if the organ is chimeric.

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