Surgeons at University of Maryland Medical Center say they have cut by almost half the average time that African-Americans must wait for cadaver kidney transplants by encouraging more blacks to seek living donors.

Dr. Clarence E. Foster III told the American Surgical Association that black patients now wait an average of 681 days for a cadaver kidney transplant at the University of Maryland hospital, about half the 1,335-day national average.

"The African-American community is not often aware that they can be living donors," said Foster. "We're willing to go out and seek potential donors in their own families."

Reducing the kidney transplant waiting time for African Americans is a critical problem because kidney failure is more common among blacks, and finding an acceptable donor match is more difficult than it is for white patients.

Other sources: University of Maryland, Baltimore Sun