| What is being compared | Living Kidney Donor Transplant | Deceased Kidney Donor Transplant |
| Average length of time the kidney will last | 20-25 years | 15-20 years |
| Average waiting time for the transplant | 3-6 months | 2-3 years |
| Can it be done before dialysis is needed? | Sometimes | Sometimes but this is less likely due to the waiting time. |
| Can transplant surgery times be planned in advance? | Yes - surgery is usually during the day | No - surgery often takes place at night |
| Chance of the transplanted kidney working within a day of the surgery | Higher - the kidney has come from someone who is fit and well, so it almost always works straight away | Lower - the kidney has come from someone who has died, so it takes longer for the kidney to "wake up" and start working |
| Risk from the donated kidney | Lower - the health of the donor is easier to thoroughly check before donation. The donor is unlikely to have had major health issues. | Higher - it is more difficult to thoroughly check the health of the donor, and because the donor is more likely to have had major health issues. |
Donors
| Kidneys are the most commonly donated organs by living people, and about a third of all kidney transplants carried out in the UK are from living donors. During a living donor kidney transplant, the kidney is removed from the donor (a nephrectomy) and transplanted into the recipient. | |
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In the UK living kidney transplants have been performed since 1960 and currently around 1,100 such operations are performed each year, with a very high success rate. A kidney transplant can transform the life of someone with kidney disease. Receiving a kidney from a living donor has many advantages over deceased kidney donation. On average, kidneys from living donors last longer and there is usually less of a wait to receive one. Often that can happen before the need for dialysis (pre-emptive). | |