Kidney Transplantation

One of the first kidney transplant programs in the world, the Montefiore Einstein Kidney Transplantation Program is an internationally-recognized leader, providing life-saving care to children and adults with end-stage kidney disease. For more than 60 years, we have been at the forefront of kidney transplantation, having performed one of the world’s first pediatric kidney transplants and established the first dedicated pediatric transplant and dialysis programs in the nation. Our survival rates are among the best in the nation.

One of the elite centers in the nation to perform complex multi-organ kidney transplantation with simultaneous lung, liver or heart failure, we perform kidney transplants on patients who are considered high risk or ineligible elsewhere. We provide expanded criteria for donors with medical complexities, living donor paired kidney exchange, and innovative desensitization programs for patients with high antibody levels and incompatible blood types. We’re ranked in the top 1% of all hospitals in the nation for complex specialty transplant care including pediatric nephrology according to U.S. News & World Report and are an international referral site for the most complex pediatric and adult kidney transplant cases.

Our elite multidisciplinary team includes transplant surgeons fellowship-trained in advanced kidney transplantation techniques, transplant nephrologists, urologists, medical and surgical oncologists, transplant immunologists, transplant anesthesiologists, radiologists, pathologists, geneticists, virologists, critical care specialists, psychiatrists, nutritionists, physical and occupational therapists, and  dedicated transplant coordinators.

Our world-renowned specialists use advanced diagnostic imaging technology for evaluation of potential living donors and recipients, including ultrasonography, computerized tomography (CT), CT angiography, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), and digital subtraction angiography, for preoperative and postoperative evaluation.

We are among the few hospitals in the United States to have an Organ Procurement & Transplantation Network (OPTN) member transplant histocompatibility laboratory. Our in-house American Society for Histocompatibility and Immunogenetics (ASHI) accredited immunology lab provides state-of-the-art histocompatibility, immunology and immunogenetics testing including HLA typing, antibody, and crossmatch testing.

Our transplant experts utilize the most advanced surgical approaches available today, including minimally invasive and robotically-assisted surgery for faster recovery as well as bloodless kidney transplant for those with religious or medical restrictions. Our continued work in the development of newly-emerging techniques and technologies allows us to provide the latest leading-edge surgical techniques.

To ensure successful transplantation, we optimize graft survival with advanced immunosuppressive therapies and novel immune tolerance protocols. In addition, we use specialized monitoring techniques to assess transplant rejection and other complications. These techniques include tissue biopsy, non-invasive and minimally-invasive liquid biopsy, and immunological tests to help optimize immunosuppressive therapy.

For more than six decades, our transplant researchers have made substantial global contributions to the field of kidney transplantation. Our physician-scientists have contributed scholarly work in countless textbooks and medical journals, and we receive substantial funding from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to further analyze the genesis of kidney disease with the goal of eliminating the need for transplantation. With NIH funding for more than forty years, the Children's Hospital at Montefiore Einstein pediatric nephrology training program treats children with kidney disease, and our clinical trials include NIH-funded trials to better understand chronic kidney disease and how to prevent it in children.