In living donation, the following blood types are compatible:
- Donors with blood type A... can donate to recipients with blood types A and AB
- Donors with blood type B... can donate to recipients with blood types B and AB
- Donors with blood type AB... can donate to recipients with blood type AB only
- Donors with blood type O... can donate to recipients with blood types A, B, AB and O (O is the universal donor: donors with O blood are compatible with any other blood type)
So,
- Recipients with blood type O... can receive a kidney from blood type O only
- Recipients with blood type A... can receive a kidney from blood types A and O
- Recipients with blood type B... can receive a kidney from blood types B and O
- Recipients with blood type AB... can receive a kidney from blood types A, B, AB and O (AB is the universal recipient: recipients with AB blood are compatible with any other blood type)
However, there are some programs are available to help donor/recipient pairs with blood types that are otherwise incompatible: paired exchange and plasmapheresis.