Specialties & Services

Kidney Transplant

If you are considering a kidney transplant, our experienced team of specialists offers the expert care you need with a compassionate touch.

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Why choose us for kidney transplant?

WashU Medicine physicians deliver national leading transplant care at Barnes-Jewish Hospital and St. Louis Children's Hospital. Our kidney transplant team provides exceptional care throughout the entire transplant process. We use our experience and innovation in kidney transplantation to help you live a full, healthy life.

We offer:

An experienced team: Our multidisciplinary team of 30 specialists provides you with the highest level of care. We meet weekly to discuss treatment plans, providing a seamless experience from initial testing and evaluation to long-term care following surgery.
High volumes, excellent outcomes: Our team performs more than 300 kidney transplants a year—the highest volume in Missouri and one of the highest in the nation. Our organ rejection rates are consistently below the national average. These numbers prove that our specialists are highly skilled in caring for patients with complex kidney conditions.
Research and innovation: Our partnership with WashU Medicine supports improvements of the kidney transplant process. We remain on the leading edge of innovation, including robotics and immunosuppression to minimize drug side effects and reduce the risk of organ rejection.
Shorter transplant wait times: We pursue multiple avenues to help our patients find a living kidney donor. As a result, you may experience shorter wait times for a kidney compared to other transplant centers.
More transplant opportunities: We offer you several different kidney transplant options. We participate in a paired-kidney exchange program that uses algorithms to help you find a living donor. This includes our internal exchange program, allowing local donors and recipients to benefit from the gift of organ donation.
Multi-organ transplantation: Our transplant team has extensive experience treating patients with complex health needs. We regularly complete multi-organ transplants such as kidney-liver, kidney-heart, and kidney-pancreas.
Patient and family support: You and your loved ones can access education, support groups, one-on-one psychological counseling, and our Transplant Mentor Program. In this program, someone who has already had a transplant provides you with information, guidance, and emotional support.

What is kidney transplant?

A kidney transplant is a surgery done to replace a diseased or injured kidney with a healthy kidney from a donor. The kidney may come from a deceased organ donor or from a living donor. Family members or others who are a good match may be able to donate one of their kidneys. This type of transplant is called a living transplant. People who donate a kidney can live healthy lives with one healthy kidney.

A person getting a transplant most often gets just one kidney. In rare situations, they may get two kidneys from a deceased donor. The diseased kidneys are usually left in place. The transplanted kidney is placed in the lower belly on the front side of the body.

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Our highly trained team of specialists offers advanced treatments as well as compassionate, personalized care.

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Kidney transplant testing and treatments

If you or someone you love needs a kidney, you may have questions about your kidney transplant options.

At the WashU Medicine and Barnes-Jewish Transplant Center, we explore every opportunity and resource to match transplant recipients with a suitable kidney. Our innovation leads to more transplant options—and more successful kidney transplants—than any other center in the St. Louis region.

We offer multiple avenues to find a suitable kidney, including:

Deceased kidney donor transplant

During this procedure, you are given a healthy kidney from someone who has just passed away. This is the most common type of kidney transplant.

Living kidney donor transplant

During this surgery, you receive a kidney from a live person—a living kidney donor. This donor could be a friend, a loved one, or even a stranger.

Paired-donor kidney transplant

If you have a willing kidney donor, but they are not a match for you, kidneys are exchanged between several people, so each person receives a compatible kidney.