Kidney Transplant

Most people are born with two kidneys, located behind the abdominal organs and below the rib cage. They perform several important functions including:

• Filtering blood to remove waste products, passing the waste from the body as urine and returning water and chemicals back to the body as necessary.
• Regulating blood pressure by releasing several hormones.
• Stimulating red blood cell production by releasing the hormone erythropoietin.

The kidneys are two bean-shaped organs that produce urine. Urine is carried to the bladder and when the bladder is full, urine is excreted from the bladder through the urethra.