Living kidney transplant is the best replacement therapy for end-stage kidney failure, as it offers longer survival and better quality of life. Spain has a long history of kidney transplants from living donors, although with a low number of procedures until just a few years ago.

In Spain, 235 transplants were performed in 2009 (10% of total procedures) and 29 hospitals were able to carry out this treatment. This was made possible by the good long-term results, low complication rates for the donor, and changes in the profile of donors (who are getting older, thus complicating transplants for young adults), in addition to the efforts of the Spanish National Transplant Organisation (ONT) regional and hospital-based transplant coordination, the Spanish Society of Nephrology (SEN), the Spanish Transplant Society (SET), the Spanish Association for the Fight Against Kidney Disease (ALCER), and the professionals that work directly or indirectly for this treatment.

With the aim of promoting living kidney donation nationwide, the ONT and the SEN, with the support of the SET, have coordinated and edited this guide, in which many experts involved in the various areas of this treatment have actively collaborated. In addition, the guide brings together legal, ethical, psychosocial, medical and surgical aspects, and presents the reality of new methods for performing this treatment, such as crossover transplants, desensitisation therapy, or altruistic donation.

We offer our most sincere gratitude to all the professionals who have made the publication of the clinical guide possible, and to those who, without having the opportunity to participate in it, work every day to ensure the highest quality of living-donor kidney transplantation.