News From Transplant Week of May 5, 2002 / Vol. 3 No. 18

 

UNOS: Few Need New Kidneys After Being a Living Kidney Donor
 

Of the more than 6,400 Americans who donated one of their two kidneys last year, it appears from data compiled by the United Network for Organ Sharing that fewer than one in 1,000 will ever find they need a kidney transplant themselves.

Most people are born with two kidneys, and only one is needed for normal kidney function. For many friends and family members considering living donation, the possibility of their remaining kidney someday failing is a major concern -- but, the numbers would suggest, a remote possibility.

Researchers from UNOS reported at the annual American transplant scientific meeting that only 20 of the 48,000 living donors who have given up one of their kidneys since 1988 later registered with the national transplant network to receive one.

While that would suggest that the rate of donors needing a kidney transplant within 14 years might be as low as 1 in 2,400, UNOS researchers expressed frustration that since they began collecting follow-up data on living kidney donors in October 1999, they have received data on fewer than 50 percent of these donors.

"Reasons for this poor donor follow-up rate have not been completely defined," a UNOS spokesperson said. "Similarly, reasons for donors developing permanent renal failure have not been well defined. There is need for improved follow up of living donors to better assess the long-term risks of living kidney donation."

But, concluded lead UNOS researcher Mary D. Ellison, "Everyone thinks being a living kidney donor has a low risk, and that's pretty fair to say. The bottom line is this is not an urgent situation for living kidney donors."

The transplant network also gives people who have been living kidney donors an advantage if they ever find themselves in need of a transplant themselves. They get an additional four allocation points, which is the equivalent of moving them up four years on the cadaver transplant waiting list.

Other sources: UNOS