South Korean Woman Receives Father's Kidney After ABO-Incompatible Transplant
A South Korean woman in her mid-20s was diagnosed with glomerulonephritis during a routine health check, a condition that damages the kidney’s filtering units. She had no symptoms at the time, but the disease progressed and left her with chronic kidney failure, making dialysis and eventually a kidney transplant her only viable options.
Glomerulonephritis is inflammation of the kidney’s glomeruli, the tiny filtering units that remove waste from the blood. When these filters are damaged, waste and fluids accumulate, while the body may lose protein and blood in the urine. The condition often advances without obvious symptoms, and doctors monitor kidney function through the glomerular filtration rate, or GFR. In her case, the GFR gradually declined even as she felt fine, a reminder that chronic kidney disease can be “silent” until late stages.
In December 2020, the patient, Im Da-seom, began seeing specialists after a primary health check flagged high protein in the urine. Over the next two years, her condition deteriorated despite treatment, and by 2023 her GFR had fallen to 12 percent, signaling the need for dialysis and consideration of a transplant. Doctors warned that even when people feel well, the disease can be advanced, underscoring the importance of regular follow-ups after abnormal screenings.
Her case grew more complex when a potential living donor—the patient’s father—offered his kidney. Although a family donor can shorten wait times, the pair faced a blood-type mismatch: the father is blood type O and the recipient is type A. In such ABO-incompatible transplants, the risk of immune reactions is higher, and a rare complication known as atypical hemolytic uremic syndrome (AHUS) emerged as a concern. After nearly 18 months of planning and medical optimization, the transplant could not proceed until these obstacles were addressed.
Ultimately, the patient underwent a kidney transplant from her father in February 2025 after the team resolved the immunological and blood-related hurdles. The operation was successful, and within four days her kidney function appeared normal again, allowing a relatively quick discharge a few days later. Four months after the transplant, she faced a temporary setback when a CMV infection was detected, but it was managed early and did not derail her recovery.
Before the transplant, she spent about 1½ years on dialysis, enduring fatigue, dietary restrictions, and the limitations of a life tethered to a dialysis schedule. After the operation, she reported a dramatic improvement: energy returned, appetite improved, and she could eat a wider range of foods and resume physical activity. She remains on a daily regimen of immunosuppressants and other medications, but she now enjoys a life that dialysis had denied.
This story matters beyond Korea because it highlights the realities of kidney disease, family donor options, and the challenges of transplant medicine that echo worldwide. For U.S. readers, it underscores ongoing issues such as donor shortages, the potential role of living donors, and the complexities of ABO-incompatible transplants and rare complications like AHUS. It also reinforces the value of regular health screenings to catch silent CKD early and improve outcomes, a concern for aging populations and rising rates of kidney disease in many countries. The case also shows how advances in transplant care—immunosuppression, infection management, and multidisciplinary coordination—can transform quality of life for patients once reliant on dialysis.