Kidney Exchange in South Korea

S. Korea was a pioneer in kidney exchange. (In the U.S. population, Asians have the highest frequency of blood type B, almost equal to their frequency of A, and so the simplest exchanges of an A-B patient donor pair with a B-A patient donor pair come up more often among Asians.)

Here's a report of their experience.

J Korean Med Assoc. 2008 Aug;51(8):717-723. Korean.

Exchange Living-donor Kidney Transplantation: The Present and Future. Huh KH, Kim YS, Kim BS. Department of Surgery, Yonsei University College of Medicine, Korea. yukim@yuhs.ac Department of Internal Medicine, Yonsei University College of Medicine, Korea. Abstract The shortage of donor organs is one of the major barriers of transplantation worldwide. After the success of the direct exchange donor (swap) program in Korea since 1991, a swaparound program has been developed. Recently, a web-based (computerized) algorithm to facilitate donor kidney exchange was devised and tested in multi-center settings. An excellent longterm outcome was achieved by using the donor exchange program as an option to reduce the donor organ shortage. Herein, we discussed on the current status of the exchange donor renal transplantation in Korea, a couple of problems we have had, and future directions we have to head and make better to improve organ donation activities.