Who Can Receive a Transplant?

One part of making an informed decision is understanding who can and cannot receive a kidney transplant. You may be surprised to learn who can qualify for a transplant. For example, many transplant patients have diabetes and/or high blood pressure since these are conditions that contribute to kidney failure. Also, if a patient is otherwise healthy, age is not a factor. Kidney transplant recipients range from infants to patients in their 80s!

However, not all kidney patients are eligible to receive a transplant. A kidney patient will not be eligible to receive a kidney transplant if any of the following conditions apply:

• current cancer
• uncorrectable heart disease

Each transplant center has its own rules for kidney transplant eligibility. There may be other reasons why patients are not eligible for transplant that can or cannot be resolved. For this reason it is important that every patient interested in transplant be evaluated by at least one transplant center. In some cases patients who are turned down by one transplant facility may not be at another.