Kidney Transplant Programme Highlights

Key Statistics

Our kidney transplant programme delivers consistently strong clinical outcomes:

Patient Survival Rates (2021 & 2017)

1‑year patient survival: 100% (living donor and deceased donor) in 2021
5‑year patient survival: Up to 93% for living donor transplants (2017 data)

These outcomes surpass international benchmarks such as USRDS and ANZ.

Graft Survival Rates (2021 & 2017)

1‑year graft survival: 100% for both living and deceased donor transplants in 2021
5‑year graft survival: Up to 94% in selected categories (2018–2019)

Key Milestones/Research and Innovation

Since the first renal transplant performed at our campus in 1970, the renal transplant programme has performed over 1000 kidney transplants in Singapore and has been responsible for many renal transplant milestones for Singapore as follows:

1970: First deceased donor kidney transplant in Southeast Asia performed at SGH

1976: First related living donor transplant

2015: First paired living donor exchange between SGH and NUH

2018: SGH performs its 1000th deceased donor transplant

2024: First HIV‑to‑HIV living donor kidney transplantation

2025: Introduction of liquid biopsies and molecular microscope diagnostics in kidney transplantation

Introduction of modern immunosuppressants (e.g., tacrolimus, everolimus, mycophenolate)
Use of advanced desensitization methods (e.g., Glycosorb, double filtration plasmapheresis, Therasorb) to enable ABO‑ and HLA‑incompatible transplants
Pioneering outpatient transplant procedures and adoption of telemedicine during the COVID‑19 pandemic
Launch of SGH@Home services for transplant recipients in 2022