How Effective Is Kidney Transplant For IgA Nephropathy

In IgA nephropathy patients, the deposition of immunoglobulin A in mesangial areas will cause renal inflammation and renal injuries which will cause gradual loss of kidney functions and in the end develop into end stage renal failure.

Usually it takes 3-30 years for different IgA nephropathy patients to develop into renal failure in which stage dialysis and kidney transplant will be needed to sustain the patient’s life.

Kidney transplant is an effective treatment for end stage IgA nephropathy. It can help patients get rid of dialysis, rebuild their kidney functions so as to enable them to have a much more satisfactory normal life. Therefore kidney transplant is often considered to be the best treatment for IgA nephropathy when it progresses into end stage. The success rate of kidney transplant is good fror IgA nephropathy patients. Compared with renal failure caused by other kidney disease, the survival rate and life expectancy of kidney transplant for IgAN patients are relatively higher. Patients will have longer life span if it is live donor transplant.

However effective kidney transplant is, it is only a treatment not a cure for IgA nephropathy because the IgA deposition will once again occur to the transplanted kidney or even cause failure of the new kidney.

Generally it takes about 2-3 years for the IgA to reoccur and it takes about 10 years for the patients to lose their transplanted kidneys. However it is really unpredictable how long it takes for IgA nephropathy to reappear for each individual. Therefore it is necessary to have follow-up checks of kidney function after the surgery so as to have early detection, early prevention and early treatment.

Since the root problem for IgA nephropathy patients lies in the immune system which can not be solved after kidney transplant, that is why IgA nephropathy often happen to the new kidney. Other reasons such as organ-rejection and immunosuppressants are all the possible causes of the second kidney failure.

IgA nephropathy patients can have some Chinese medicines after the kidney transplant which can help regulate internal disorders and immune dysfunction so as to much lower the recurrent rate and improve the life span and survival rate of the transplanted kidney.