A chain of living kidney donors results in 10 lives saved over the course of a year.
Wired PR News – A kidney donation to a stranger by a man in Michigan has set off a chain reaction that some say might lead to increased survival rates for a larger number of those in need of transplants. As reported by the Associated Press (AP), an effort has begun to help increase the number of kidney transplants provided to sick patients through living donors.
Founded by Dr. Michael Rees, a University of Toledo Medical Center transplant surgeon, the Alliance for Paired Donation has coordinated what has grown to become a 10 person donation chain that is continually growing. Rees is quoted in the report as stating, “My dream would be that we eliminate the waiting list because we could turn every altruistic donor into 100 transplants.”
Several other groups have begun similar programs across the U.S. which are anticipated to lead to huge strides in reducing costs associated with and the instances of long-term dialysis, as well as better matching of donors and transplant recipients. The chains are anticipated to possibly lead to kidney transplants for up to 2,000 more individuals per year.
More information about the effort is published in Thursday’s New England Journal of Medicine.
