100th living donor kidney transplant arranged through OPTN program

Published on: Sunday, July 6, 2014

A series of three living donor kidney transplants performed July 7, 2014, marked the 98th, 99th and 100th that were arranged through the OPTN/UNOS Kidney Paired Donation Pilot Program (KPDPP). Two of the transplants occurred at Pinnacle Health in Harrisburg, Pa., while another took place at Northwestern Hospital in Chicago.

"This is a significant milestone for our program. It is also a tribute both to the people who help save others through donation and the professionals who are able to find compatible recipients," said Carl Berg, M.D., OPTN/UNOS President. "The program has especially helped a number of people who were highly immunosensitized, meaning that their chances of finding a compatible match were very low without having a system like this available."

The program identifies compatible matches for living donor kidney transplants at 138 participating hospitals nationwide. In some instances, the potential living donor had intended to help a specific transplant candidate but was not a biologic match with that person. Other transplant combinations have been made possible by a non-directed living donor (someone who did not specify a recipient, but wished to help a candidate identified by the matching program).