Kidney exchange in Mexico

 Here's a report from the journal Cirugia y Cirujanos  (Surgery and Surgeons) on the experience with kidney exchange (aka kidney paired donation) at the Central Military Hospital in Mexico City, where 

Donación renal pareada: beneficio de este programa en la tasa de trasplantes y sobrevida del injerto

Kidney paired donation: benefit of this program on the transplant rate and graft survival  by Lucino Bahena-Carrera, Héctor F. Noyola-Villalobos, Edgar E. Ramos-Díaz, Marco A. Loera-Torres, Ricardo Mendiola-Fernández y Mónica L. Razo-Padilla, Cirugia y Cirujanos 91, no. 1 (2023): 50-57.

 Abstract: 

"Objective: To demonstrate the experience since the transplant program under paired kidney donation implementation; program that increases the donation rate by 25-30% in hospitals with no inferior graft survival compared to directed living donor kidney transplantation. 

"Method: Observational, analytical, longitudinal and prospective study from December 2018 to July 2021. All G5 KDIGO chronic kidney patients who were HLA or ABO incompatible with their original donors in the pretransplant protocol and who were transplanted under the paired kidney donation program, were included. 

"Results: 22 kidney transplants were performed under this program. Survival of the graft and the patient 1 year after transplantation was 100%. The post-transplant glomerular filtration rate was 72.5 ± 17 ml/min/1.73 m2  body surface. 36.3% of hypersensitized patients were successfully transplanted. The in-hospital donation rate increased by 33.33%. 

"Conclusions: Transplantation under the kidney paired donation program constitutes a real modality of successful transplantation when there is incompatibility with the original donor. The greater use and socialization of this program can increase the country kidney transplantation rate, reducing the waiting list. Our hospital represents the largest experience published in Mexico with this transplant program