the
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ki ney
citizen
Paired Kidney Donation at Christiana Care
Health System, Christiana Care Kidney
Transplant Program
By Emily Pruitt RN, MSN
Living Donor Coordinator,
Christiana Care Health System
Example of Different Types of Exchanges
D = Donor
|
R = Recipient
Non Directed
Altruistic Donor
Paired Kidney Donation is an alternative option given to those who are not directly compatible with their recipient. Christiana Care
Health System (CCHS) Kidney Transplant Program participates in Paired Kidney Donation,
which allows an incompatible donor to still
help their loved one who is in need of a kidney transplant.
Paired Kidney Donation, formerly referred to
as a “Donor Swap” allows more recipients to
have the benefit of living donor kidneys and
provides a way for motivated, healthy living
donors to still help his or her potential recipient. Essentially, Paired Kidney Donation works
by allowing a blood type or crossmatch incompatible kidney transplant recipient and their
donor to exchange kidneys with other donor/
recipient pairs who are also incompatible. In
other words, the two pairs swap kidneys to
make compatible donor/recipient pairs. More
often the Paired Kidney Donation programs
make “chains” with the living donors and recipients, in order to help the most number of
people at one time.
D
D
R
R
Cluster
#1
Cluster
#2
D
D
D
R
R
R
Paired Kidney Donation allows the recipient to have all of
the benefits of living donation even if their loved one is
not a match to them. Some benefits of living donation include:
• Significantly better short and long term survival rates for
transplants from living donors than transplants from deceased donors.
• The recipient has time to plan for the transplant.
• The surgery can be scheduled at a mutually-agreed upon
time rather than performed on an emergency basis.
• Even with Paired Kidney Donation, perhaps the most important aspect of living donation is the psychological benefit.
Cluster
#3
R
D
R
R
D
D
R