[The risk of living kidney donation]. / Wer kann mit welchem Risiko eine Niere spenden?

Living kidney donation was started in the seventies in Switzerland and since the year 2000 all transplant centers in Switzerland perform this procedure. It shows excellent long-term results in terms of graft and patient survival with an acceptable risk for the donor. Due to the shortage of deceased kidney donors available for transplantation and the rising number of patients on the waiting list, there is an increasing pressure towards living kidney donation reflected by the rise of living-donor kidney transplantation since the last decade. Due to this pressure it is important to do a very careful medical and psychological evaluation. In addition it is important to inform the donors about the possible risks of kidney donation which includes the short as well as the long term prognosis. This is only possible with a prospective long-term analysis of all living donor in specific country. In Switzerland this is guaranteed by the Swiss Organ Living Donor Health Registry (SOL-DHR), which is world wide the only prospective national donor registry with an actual follow up of 18 years. The following manuscript summarizes the medical and psychological evaluations of living kidney donors and delivers insight in the risks and the possible long-term effects of living kidney donation.