According to a recent survey, the functioning of donated kidneys is becoming better.

- The results of the study may encourage more family members and friends to take the initiative to donate, says researcher Ingela Fehrman-Ekholm.

The study is a long-term follow-up of living kidney donors who had surgery at Sahlgrenska University Hospital from 1965 to 2005. The study includes a total of 668 kidney donors and 35 persons that donated a part of their liver during the period 1996 to 2007 to a loved one who suffered from severe liver failure.

The study also shows that the function of the remaining kidney will continue to improve for several years after the donation and does not age as kidneys do otherwise. Those who have donated part of their liver, no matter how high the volume is, restore their liver function to one hundred percent. A number of the kidney donors included in the survey, who did surgery 40 years ago, has now become old.

- People who donated a kidney get a better function in their remaining kidney and the effect persists for several years, said Ingela Fehrman-Ekholm, who donated a kidney to her husband almost 16 years ago.

The first transplantation in Sweden took place in 1964 where a 14-year-old renal disease received a new kidney donated by her father. Since then, more than 12 000 kidney transplantations were performed in Sweden, with one third donated by a living donor. Usually the donor is someone in the family, but over the last twenty years, also a spouse or close friends had the opportunity to donate. For many patients, a donor organ from a deceased was the only way to transplant. But in the current situation, there is a severe shortage of organs from deceased and the waiting time has increased in recent years. Kidney patients survive due to dialysis treatment, but for patients with heart and liver disease a transplant is necessary for their survival. Each year, severely ill patients die because of organ shortage.

For the full story in Swedish: http://www.sahlgrenska.se/sv/SU/Aktuellt/Nyheter/suNytt/Battre-njurfunktion-hos-organdonator/