Renal Transplant
Our Renal Transplant program at Penn began in 1998 through the dedicated efforts of Dr. Lillian Aronson. Dr. Aronson has been performing renal transplants in felines for over 10 yrs. With the help of a nurse practitioner that specializes in renal transplant, our team is able to offer treatment for renal failure, however they cannot offer a cure. The goal of renal transplantation is to provide a good quality of life for a cat that would otherwise be unable to survive; however “normal” life expectancy is not yet achievable by today’s technology.
Presently, of the patients at the University of Pennsylvania, 90% recover sufficiently and will go home following renal transplantation, and approximately 60-70% of transplanted cats are alive and continuing to do well at 1-year post transplant. Renal transplant recipients are usually in the hospital for 10-14 days as they recover from surgery and are stabilized on immunosuppressive drugs.