Tuesday, December 27, 2011

Progress in the national kidney exchange pilot program

There is recent modest but welcome progress in the effort to organize a Federally sponsored kidney exchange on the national level in the United States.

Ruthanne Hanto, who moved from NEPKE to UNOS this summer writes:
"15 transplants from sept 2011-dec 2011
Compared to 2 transplants oct 2010 - aug 2011
Progress
Happy New year!"

Here's the most recent UNOS press release dated Dec. 6:

"From September to mid-November, 10 transplants took place through the OPTN's national kidney paired donation (KPD) pilot program. Five more transplants are scheduled to occur by the end of 2011.
A six-way, non-directed donor chain was identified in August. Four of the transplants occurred between September and mid-November. The remaining two transplants are scheduled to take place by early December.
A non-directed donor chain resulted in three transplants in September, and a separate three-way exchange also was completed in September. An additional three-way exchange is scheduled to occur in December.
A free informational brochure has been developed to provide basic information to potential donors and recipients about the national program. Order printed copies of the brochure now >
Currently there are 86 transplant centers participating in the pilot program. For additional information about the program, or to seek information about participating, please consult the KPD page on the OPTN Web site or contact Ruthanne Hanto, RN, MPH, Program Manager, at kidneypaireddonation@unos.org.  "

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Why compete with the National Kidney Registry who has been doing this longer and who has much greater numbers of patients served?

Why fragment the national effort to help patients?

I think you would be serving patients better if you worked to coordinate all the programs already out there, rather than to just promote your own and continue the fragmentation of care.

Pls explain.