Your child’s primary nephrologist or dialysis unit staff can complete a kidney transplant referral form and fax it to 717-531-3717, submit an electronic referral online at TxAccess or contact our Transplant Office. A patient’s family may also self-refer by contacting the Transplant Office at 717-531-6092. If you self-refer, office staff will ask for medical, insurance and demographic information to assist our team in determining if you can be scheduled for a transplant evaluation appointment.

Learn more about our program's pediatric kidney selection criteria.

To begin the transplant evaluation, you and your child will be required to attend an education session that explains the transplant process, from evaluation to post-transplant care. Following this session, you and your child will meet with each member of our multidisciplinary transplant team for a thorough medical, social, and financial evaluation. 

Required testing may be different for each child. On the day of the transplant evaluation, your transplant coordinator will provide a list of testing that is needed to complete the evaluation.

Once the transplant evaluation and testing are complete, our pediatric transplant selection committee will determine if your child is eligible for the national transplant list, which is operated by the United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS). UNOS considers blood type, distance from the donor hospital, time on the list and immune system markers when matching deceased donors to recipients. The wait time for deceased donor transplant can be months to years; pediatric patients generally have a shorter wait period than adults.

Living donor transplant is usually preferred for all pediatric patients because it can provide children with a higher-quality kidney, often in a shorter period of time. Most living kidney donors are family members, parents are the most common donors for children and teenagers. However, anyone could be considered to be a living donor. To learn more about living donation visit Living Donation Facts and Resources from UNOS. 

While waiting for transplant, your child will have annual visits with the transplant team to ensure they continue to be a good candidate for kidney transplantation. 

Kidney transplant surgery takes approximately three to four hours. Following surgery, the average hospital stay is one to two weeks, but may vary based on your child’s condition. Transplant team members will provide additional education about medications, post-transplant care, and follow-up appointments to you and your child.

An organ transplant is a precious gift, and caring for it is a lifelong commitment. After discharge from the hospital, your child will return to our post-transplant clinic regularly for follow-up care. The first six weeks after transplant, children are seen on a weekly basis. Clinic visits and blood draws become less frequent over time Our transplant team follows every patient for the lifetime of the organ transplant. The pediatric nephrology team will continue to provide your child with transplant care throughout childhood and adolescence.

For more information on pediatric kidney transplant, see our Pediatric Kidney Transplant Patient Guide.

For information regarding our transplant center’s outcomes please visit the Scientific Registry of Transplant Recipients (SRTR) website.

• Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network (OPTN):
  • Pediatric transplants
  • What Every Parent Needs to Know: A guide when your child needs a transplant
• Children's Organ Transplant Association
• FAQs about organ donation and transplantation – United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS)
• Camp Kydnie – Kidney Foundation of Central PA