ABO Incompatible Kidney Transplant lets patients receive a kidney from a living donor who has an incompatible blood type. To be able to receive such a kidney, patients must undergo several treatments before and after the transplant to remove the harmful antibodies that can lead to rejection of the transplanted kidney.
A special process called plasmapheresis, which is similar to dialysis, is used to remove these harmful antibodies from the patient's blood.
Patients require multiple treatments with plasmapheresis before transplant, and may require several more after transplant to keep their antibody levels down. Some patients may also need to have their spleens removed at the time of transplant surgery to lower the number of cells that produce antibodies. The spleen, a spongy organ about as big as a person's fist, produces blood cells, ocated in the upper left part of the abdomen under the rib cage, the spleen can be removed laparoscopically.
