Right now, kidneys are given out mostly on a kind of first-come, first-served basis — those who have been waiting the longest tend to get first dibs whenever a kidney becomes available. But that can create problems, Friedewald says.
"We don't want to necessarily give a kidney that may last 40 years to someone who is expected to live five more years. We think we can match people in a better way to maximize the outcome from each kidney," Friedewald says.
So UNOS is proposing several significant changes. One of the big ones is this: The 20 percent of kidneys that would be expected to last the longest would go to the 20 percent of recipients expected to get the most years out of each organ.
"This has several benefits," Friedewald says. "Number one is we realize many more life years lived with each kidney transplant. As those people can live longer and longer with those transplants. But also and probably more importantly we decrease the number of people who then have a kidney fail while they are still alive and need to return to the wait-list."
That, Friedewald says, would make the kidneys that are available for transplantation end up saving a lot more lives.
- More Here
"We don't want to necessarily give a kidney that may last 40 years to someone who is expected to live five more years. We think we can match people in a better way to maximize the outcome from each kidney," Friedewald says.
So UNOS is proposing several significant changes. One of the big ones is this: The 20 percent of kidneys that would be expected to last the longest would go to the 20 percent of recipients expected to get the most years out of each organ.
"This has several benefits," Friedewald says. "Number one is we realize many more life years lived with each kidney transplant. As those people can live longer and longer with those transplants. But also and probably more importantly we decrease the number of people who then have a kidney fail while they are still alive and need to return to the wait-list."
That, Friedewald says, would make the kidneys that are available for transplantation end up saving a lot more lives.
- More Here
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