BMI a Consideration For Kidney-Pancreas Transplant

Adult-onset diabetic patients who are overweight may be able to improve their diabetes and even come off insulin by losing weight.

Going forward, the new UNOS criteria for kidney-pancreas allocation will require that transplant candidates’ body mass index (BMI) fall below 25 or 30. “While the BMI cut-off is still being set, it is clear that obese patients will need to lose weight to be considered for kidney-pancreas transplantation,” says Bry.

If a patient’s weight is above the BMI range for a kidney-pancreas transplant, Bry explains that the patient would still be a candidate for kidney transplantation alone.

article from Fall Winter 2010 Kidney Review newsletter