Transplant Articles from Ochsner Health Experts

Elevating Living Donor Kidney Transplantation with Dennis Sonnier, MD

Ochsner Health has a long history of performing kidney transplants, having completed more than 3,500 kidney and kidney-pancreas transplants since 1973. After more than 50 years, the kidney transplant program, part of the Ochsner Transplant Institute, continues evolving and excelling. In 2025, the program received the prestigious ELITE status from INTERLINK COE Networks & Programs, a sign of high-quality results and exceptional care. 

Much of the innovation in the kidney transplant program involves living donations, which comprise approximately 30% of kidney transplants at Ochsner. Living donation is a critical tool in the face of a shortfall of deceased donor kidneys. For patients on or nearing dialysis, a living donor kidney provides a solution that can be implemented quickly and has the potential to endure for years. 

“Most patients would likely wait on the deceased donor list a long time, and their condition could worsen over that period,” said Dennis Sonnier, MD, a transplant surgeon and surgical director of kidney transplant at Ochsner Medical Center - New Orleans, and surgical clerkship director for the University of Queensland-Ochsner Clinical School Program. “On the other hand, a living donor transplant can take place within weeks, allowing patients to discontinue or avoid dialysis, and eliminate the risk of never getting a transplant.” 

Adding Detail to Donor Evaluations

A passionate advocate for living kidney donation, Dr. Sonnier has helped streamline the process for donors and recipients in numerous ways, including introducing 3D visualization to donor evaluation. 

Every prospective donor receives a high-quality, multiphase, contrast-enhanced CT scan to help the transplant surgeon understand their anatomy and choose the optimal surgical approach. Anatomical variations, such as multiple arteries or veins serving a kidney, can complicate surgical planning. When that’s the case, Dr. Sonnier partners with neurological rehabilitation specialist Korak Sarkar, MD, MHDS, FAAN, and the Ochsner BioDesign Lab to create a virtual reality model of the organ for enhanced visualization. 

“Having 3D visualization in the form of a VR model helps the surgeon and the rest of the team understand the structure of the arteries, veins and kidneys, which allows us to make the best decisions for both donor and recipient,” Dr. Sonnier said. “In addition, the model is a useful communications tool because the entire team can look at a monitor together and see the same thing. Otherwise, we might look at different parts of the CT images or interpret them differently.” 

Robotic Surgery’s Next Step 

Around 15 years ago, Ochsner transplant surgeons began performing minimally invasive robotic living donor nephrectomies. Robotic technology, Dr. Sonnier said, allows patients to donate their kidneys with minimal pain and a speedy recovery. Now, living donor recipients can also enjoy the benefits of robotic surgery. 

“In 2025, we started performing robotic minimally invasive transplant procedures for recipients as well as robotic nephrectomies for donors,” Dr. Sonnier said. “The recipient operation involves a lot of complex suturing and positioning. As the field of minimally invasive surgery has grown, so has our comfort with using the robot. That, in turn, allowed us to refine the techniques to offer robotic recipient surgery. The technical aspects of the two procedures are quite different for the surgeon. Donors and recipients, though, enjoy similar benefits, including small incisions, fewer wound complications and a quick recovery.” 

Honing High-Stakes Surgical Skills 

To build proficiency in performing robotic transplant surgery for recipients, Dr. Sonnier turned to another product of collaboration with the BioDesign Lab: a 3D-printed kidney transplant simulator. A box-like reproduction of the surgical field, the simulator features a replica kidney and latex tubes that mimic the associated vasculature. 

Dr. Sonnier honed his robotic surgery skills by practicing on the simulator with the robot. Medical trainees also use the simulator to practice sewing blood vessels from the donor kidney to those of the recipient’s abdomen. 

“Many residents come to our service without experience in kidney transplantation, but they have to assist us in the operations and perform critical, time-sensitive steps,” Dr. Sonnier said. “Allowing trainees to practice on the simulator on their own time or with us in the simulation lab enhances their learning and, in turn, patient care.” 

Groundbreaking Achievement 

Ochsner transplant surgeons’ commitment to pushing the field forward has yielded notable accomplishments, including Louisiana’s first international paired kidney donation. 

The 2022 transplant saw a 19-year-old Louisiana woman with polycystic kidney disease receive a kidney from a Danish woman. The latter wasn’t a match for her husband, who also needed a kidney transplant, but enrolling in an international registry yielded the new kidney he needed. The registry required his wife to enroll as a living donor, which led to the match with the Louisiana patient. 

“This case was an interesting opportunity that occurred through our partnership with the Alliance for Paired Kidney Donation,” Dr. Sonnier said. “We work with the organization to facilitate live donor transplants in our patients who have a live donor, but the two aren’t compatible. The Alliance finds a match with a donor/recipient pair at another center who are also incompatible. The organization’s algorithm identifies a match between our donor and their recipient, and their donor and our recipient.” 

For Dr. Sonnier, the 2022 case speaks not only to the kidney transplant program’s close partnership with the Alliance but also to the team’s commitment to pursuing any opportunity that may help a patient get a transplant. 

Passionate Advocate for Living Donation 

Increasing living kidney donation at Ochsner even further, Dr. Sonnier said, requires educating patients at multiple touchpoints. 

“We have to reach patients where they are and help them understand the need for a living donor,” he said. “We educate patients about what it means to be on the wait-list for a deceased donor organ and the potential consequences of that, which helps them understand the benefits of live donation. We emphasize the safety of a loved one potentially donating a kidney to them. Living donation is at the forefront of everyone’s mind in our transplant division.” 

Referring physicians are key in taking living kidney donation to the next level. 

“If a primary care physician or another clinician has a patient with kidney failure, I hope they would encourage them to find a live donor,” Dr. Sonnier said. “Advise them to talk to their family, friends or contacts at school, work or in their faith community, whatever they can do to advocate for living donation.” 

How to Refer

To refer a patient or learn more about the kidney transplant program, email kidneytransplant@ochsner.org or call 504-842-3925.