[The new French rules for the attribution of renal transplants]

The French rules for the attribution of a kidney transplant are regularly evaluated and modified according to scientific progress, evolution of the waiting list and of health policies. Modifications, initiated by the Transplantation Commission of the French-speaking Society of Nephrology, have been introduced in 2004 by the Etablissement français des Greffes and aim at decreasing the number of patients on the waiting list having difficult access to transplantation because of their immunogenetic characteristics (rare ABO or HLA group, HLA immunization). Four points are concerned: 1/ better definition of hyperimmunisation; 2/ introduction of a program based on "acceptable mismatches" as a new priority for hyperimmunized patients; 3/ suppression of the full-match priority to non-immunized patients; 4/ attribution to immunized patients (anti-HLA antibodies=5-80%) who have difficult access to a transplant, of priorities similar to those followed for hyperimmunized patients. This article presents the new rules for the allocation of a kidney transplant and the rationale for the current modifications.