About our Program
The kidney transplant program at University of Missouri Health Care is the most experienced kidney transplant team in Mid-Missouri.

The transplant surgeons at University of Missouri Health Care have performed kidney transplants for more than 35 years and have completed nearly 900 transplants, extending the lives and improving the quality of life for many Missouri residents. The transplant team has consistently achieved an acute rejection rate of less than 10 percent, compared to the national average for acute kidney rejection of approximately 15 percent-one of the best rates of any transplant programs in the country.

Dr. Gilbert Ross, Jr. on the Kidney Transplant Program's 35th anniversary

Dr. Ross on success stories

Conditions Leading to Transplant
Each potential transplant patient is evaluated individually by a team of experts to ensure the patient is healthy enough to survive transplant and will receive long-term benefits.

Common indications for kidney transplant include:

• Malignant hypertension
• Polycystic kidney disease
• Hypertensive nephrosclerosis
• Diabetes
• Glomerular diseases
• Renovascular and other vascular diseases
• Congential, familial and metabolic disorders
• Tubular and interstitial diseases
• Neoplasms

Team Approach Means Excellent Results
Our Transplant Program offers a depth of clinical and research experience. Because of our multidisciplinary team of health care professionals who work together to bring patients the highest-quality care. Patients who have had a kidney transplant at University of Missouri Health Care are among the best in the nation. Combining the efforts of medicine, surgery and outstanding support services, in the last five years alone the kidney transplant team has significantly reduced the length of stay and decreased the number of complications.

Living Donor Transplants Offer Higher Success
About 20 percent of all kidney transplants performed by the University of Missouri Health Care use living donors. Living donors include traditional and extended family, as well as individuals related by marriage, adoption or close friendships.

Advantages of a living-donor transplant include:

• Availability of a donor organ
• Ability to schedule the transplant in advance
• Minimal time needed to preserve the organ
• Lower doses of immunosuppressive drugs required
• Greater chance of the organ functioning immediately after transplant, greatly improving outcomes

The kidney transplant surgeons at University of Missouri Health Care also are at the forefront of improving the surgical procedure for living kidney donation. We were among the first centers in the country to perform laparoscopic, kidney donation, in which much smaller incisions are required to remove the kidney from the donor. Using leading-edge techniques, these procedures are much less invasive and significantly decrease recovery time for donors.

With the tremendous improvements in transplant management, most patients with kidney failure can be considered for transplantation. We are at the forefront of laparoscopic living donor, which has made kidney transplantation much easier.

Information on our transplantation statistics is available at the Scientific Registry of Transplant Recipients Web site (www.ustransplant.org), which regularly publishes reports and data on each transplant program in the United States.

Comprehensive Kidney Care
University of Missouri Health Care kidney transplant program is one of the best because of the integrated team approach and the medical and surgical expertise. University of Missouri has one of the largest and most comprehensive renal replacement centers in the nation. The University of Missouri Health Sciences Center has a large and diverse patient population, excellent facilities on the campus of a major University, and an internationally recognized Faculty. Kidney specialists care for patients waiting for transplantation, and those for whom transplantation is not an option. After transplantation, top kidney specialists care for patients.

Upon entering the program, patients undergo a comprehensive evaluation by all members of the kidney transplant team. Each patient visits with a kidney transplant nurse coordinator to facilitate communication before and after transplant. A full spectrum of kidney care is available around the clock to support patients during every phase of transplant.

Chance for a Better Life
Specialists on the transplant team work together to help patients get their lives back. With transplant surgeons, transplant nephrologists, pre-transplant and post-transplant coordinators, as well as dedicated nurses, social workers, a dietitian, financial coordinator and a host of other experts.

As patients prepare for transplant, the team guides them through each step, answering questions and linking them to other resources as needed.

The University of Missouri Health Care transplant program follows our patients for the life of their transplant for continuity of care.