In the past, a patient 55 or older had little or no chance of receiving a life-saving kidney transplant. But improvements in medicine have many doctors re-evaluating older patients who need a new organ.

"Dialysis is so much better than it was 40 years ago that we are even seeing people in their 80s who are healthy enough for a transplant," said Dr. A. Osama Gaber, director of the Methodist J.C. Walter Jr. Transplant Center in Houston. "Nearly half of the people on the waiting list are over 55 and 20 percent are older than 65, so times are definitely changing."

Gaber says a mixture of a patient's organ function, strength and ability to handle the surgery, will and desire to live, psychological health and support system all play pivotal roles in determining if an older person is a good candidate.

"A 65-year-old person who lives in a long-term care facility would not be as good a potential candidate as an active 75-year-old who has people to help take care of him," Gaber said. "Patients with strong social support will be better able to tolerate post-op rehab and they would have people around them to make sure they take their medications and get the proper nutrition needed to recover."

Improvements in transplantation have also made it easier to care for older patients.

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