Kidney Transplant may become the end choice for many patients with Polycystic
Kidney Disease. Kidney Transplant does not equal to live well with PKD and you
should know clearly about kidney transplant risks for PKD patients in
advance.
Relapse of Polycystic Kidney Disease
After a transplant, infections usually occur in recipient. Various infections
from mild to serious are common, including urinary tract infection, pneumonia
(inflammatory problems in lungs), cytomegalovirus (a viral infection that can be
severe in people with weakened immune systems), bleeding, flu etc. All these can
trigger the relapse of PKD, once any infection affects your immunity.
Even a new kidney is implanted in your body, the faulty genes still have the
chance to influence the donated kidneys. Once your immune system is disturbed,
the lining cells can escape the monitor of immunity and the cells will
proliferate fast, generating cyst fluids again and forming new renal cysts.
Acute Rejection
Acute rejection is where the immune system suddenly begins to attack the
donated kidney because it mistakes it for a foreign object. Acute rejection is
the first common complication after kidney transplant and about 15~25% of PKD
patients are affected.
In order to alleviate this risk, each patients with PKD after kidney
transplant are ordered to take anti-rejection medications which causes a variety
of side effects, including acne, bone thinning, diabetes, higher rate of cancer,
puffiness, high blood pressure, weight gain etc.
The Failure of Donated Kidney
In some cases, the failure of donated kidney occurs after kidney transplant.
Some researcher claims that this is associated with the serious rejections to
donated kidney. In some serious condition, your surgeon has to take out the new
kidney again, which not only can not improve your kidney, but also will drop
your remaining kidney functions fast due to the surgical trauma.
Narrowing of an artery
The narrowing of an artery is found to happen in 2~10% of cases, which is
also known as arterial stenosis. As this risk may appear after many months or
many years after the surgery, it is known as a potential danger. When it
happens, it can cause a sudden powerful elevation in blood pressure, threatening
PKD patient’s live.
Due to the risks of kidney transplant, people with PKD tend to choose the
alternative treatment to kidney transplant, which can help them shrinking renal
cysts and improving kidney functions, thus to avoids the dialysis or kidney
transplant finally.
