Kidney transplant services

We are one of the most active kidney transplant centers in Virginia.

Kidney transplant: Expert care at Sentara

You can count on Sentara’s board-certified and fellowship-trained surgeons to give you the best possible care throughout your transplant process.

Features of our care include:

• Community-based outreach: To save you time and stress, we arrange for you to complete most pre-surgery tests and many post-surgery evaluations at Sentara facilities close to your home.
• Your own transplant coordinator: A single individual will help you coordinate every step of your transplant process. Most coordinators are conveniently located in community dialysis centers. Our patients routinely tell us that talking to a single “point person” during the pre-transplant process makes this time much easier.
• Results: The National Scientific Registry of Transplant Recipients has ranked the Sentara Transplant Center as one of the top hospitals in the state of Virginia for adult kidney transplant survival rates. This means many patients live longer, fuller lives after transplantation at Sentara. Learn more about adult kidney transplant.
• Experience: Sentara's board-certified and fellowship-trained surgeons and related medical team members give you the best possible care before, during and after your transplant surgery. Our team's extensive training ensures they are highly qualified to treat patients with even the most complex kidney diseases. 
• Multi-organ transplants: We are the only center in southeastern Virginia with the expertise to perform multi-organ transplant procedures, including kidney-pancreas transplants for patients who require them.

A kidney can be donated by a living donor, often a family member or close friend who is a good match. A living donor transplant offers many benefits, including shorter wait times and usually better long-term outcomes for the patient.

Living kidney donor transplant at Sentara Transplant Center

Sometimes, a willing donor is not a good medical match for their loved one. In these cases, Sentara participates in paired kidney exchanges, where two or more donor-recipient pairs are matched across families. This allows each patient to receive a compatible kidney while every donor helps save a life.

Some generous individuals choose to donate a kidney to help someone they do not know. This is called an altruistic donation. These life-changing gifts can initiate a chain of transplants, enabling multiple patients to receive the kidneys they need.

Many patients receive a kidney from someone who has chosen to be an organ donor at the end of their life. These transplants are coordinated through a national waiting list to ensure fairness and the best possible match for each patient.