Surgeons performed Ohio’s first kidney transplant in January 1963. During that same year, Cleveland Clinic also launched its pediatric kidney transplant program and in 1987, an affiliate program was established with the Charleston Area Medical Center in West Virginia.
To date, more than 1,000 transplants have been performed in Charleston. For adult and pediatric patients suffering from end-stage renal disease, a kidney transplant may be the right treatment option, as it holds more promise for a normal lifestyle with fewer restrictions than dialysis.
In 2018, our surgeons performed the first paired kidney exchange in the state of West Virginia. In a paired kidney exchange, two incompatible donor/recipient pairs are matched to allow for a donor from the first pair to provide a kidney to the recipient from the second pair and vice versa. This has significantly boosted the number of living donors in in the Charleston program.
