Misc. kidney exchange

A nondirected donor chain that accomplished 3 transplants at Emory, where kidney exchange has been going on since 2009: story and video

Kidney donation kicks off life-saving chain reaction

"In this video, players in this extraordinary transplant exchange tell their story.

You can also watch “The Mother of All Swaps,” a news report from 11 Alive Atlanta"
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The Army embraces kidney exchange: WRAMC again a link in kidney-swap chain

"Last week, surgeons at Walter Reed performed four surgeries involving two couples in a chain of kidney transplant surgeries that began May 5 at hospitals within the National Capital Region — only the second kidney-paired swap in military history.
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"Walter Reed surgeons participated in the first-ever transplant involved in a kidney swap chain for a U.S. military treatment facility in November. Retired Marine Gunnery Sgt. Joe Pinkowski received a kidney from a donor, and doctors recovered a kidney from his wife, Yolanda, for a patient at another hospital. The surgeries were a part of a record-setting kidney swap involving the couple and 24 other individuals in a series of 26 operations over six days at four hospitals in the region, saving the lives of 13 kidney patients ."
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A three way exchange on Long Island: Three-Way Kidney Exchange Meet for First Time at North Shore University Hospital

"For the first time since North Shore University Hospital established its Kidney Transplant Program in 2007, the transplant team headed by Ernesto Molmenti, MD, the program’s surgical director, and Louis Kavoussi, MD the North Shore-LIJ Health System’s chair of urology, performed a three-way kidney exchange involving donors who were unknown to the recipients until today. The donor chain starts with a person who wants to donate a kidney to a loved one or friend. That kidney is transplanted into a recipient who had a donor willing to give, but was found to be incompatible. To keep the chain going, the donor from the first pair gives a kidney to a patient he doesn’t know but who is a match. Specialized testing determines compatibility in each donor/recipient pairing.


"And so it was with the six people who came together today. Darlene Rawlins, 54, of Baldwin, had been on dialysis for two years. She had hoped that her daughter, Contrina Rawlins-Pettway, 26, also of Baldwin, could donate a kidney, but testing found that the two were incompatible. Same with Jacqueline Gonzalez, 46, of Hollis, who had hoped to receive a kidney from her son, Karl Jordan, 27, also of Hollis. Unfortunately, they were also not a match.

"The third pairing in the three-way exchange involved Steve Michalik, 64, of North Carolina, a bodybuilder who won 22 titles during the 1970s and 1980s, including Mr. USA in 1971, Mr. America in 1972 and Mr. Universe in 1975, against such competitors as Arnold Schwarzenegger and the “Incredible Hulk” Lou Ferrigno. Mr. Michalik asked his good friend Martin Hein Andersen, of Denmark, for a kidney. Participating in today’s news conference via Skype from Denmark, Mr. Andersen travelled to New York to get tested, but he too received the same news -- the two were incompatible.

"But thanks to the latest technology, teamwork and sophisticated testing, the transplant staff at NSUH found a way to make the three-way swap possible. On April 25, Dr. Kavoussi removed the kidneys laparoscopically from the donors and Dr. Molmenti surgically implanted them in each of the recipients. Most returned home three days later."