“For the new study, published in JAMA, doctors looked at data on people who died within 90 days after a kidney transplant surgery from 1993 to 2022. Data came from both the Scientific Registry of Transplant Recipients and the Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network, a nonprofit organization that administers the nation’s only transplant network authorized by the U.S. Congress.

In total, there were 164,593 kidney donors included in the study. Thirty-six died within 90 days after donation. 

From 1993 to 2002, there 13 total deaths after the procedure for a mortality rate of 3 per 10,000 people; from 2003 to 2012, there were 18 deaths, a mortality rate of 2.9 per 10,000. 

Deaths dropped significantly from 2013 to 2022, to just five, or a mortality rate of 0.9 per 10,000. 

During this time, laparoscopic surgery — a minimally invasive technique where surgeons use small incisions and specialized instruments to remove the kidney — became the standard of care, Segev said. Previously, patients underwent open donor nephrectomy, which required a much larger incision that needed longer recovery time and more risk of complications.”

From NBC News.