MODEL RELEASED. Kidney transplant. Image 8 of 17. Surgeon removing a donor kidney from a storage container. Donor kidneys, if kept cold and sterile, can remain viable outside of the body for several days. Kidneys are transplanted to replace a failing or failed kidney. It is the safest and most commonly performed organ transplant. It has a high success rate, although recipients do need to take immunosuppressant drugs for the rest of their life to prevent rejection. The donor kidney may come from a living or recently deceased donor. For a sequence of images showing a kidney transplant see M575/068 to M575/084.