Identification of a Patient Population Previously Not Considered for Organ Donation

Area of Science:

• Nephrology
• Transplantation Surgery
• Bioethics

Background:

• A persistent shortage of donor kidneys exists globally.
• Current organ procurement methods include donation after brain death (BD), donation after circulatory death (DCD), and living donation.
• These methods are insufficient to meet the demand for kidney transplantation.

Purpose of the Study:

• To explore the feasibility and potential impact of a novel organ donation strategy: imminent death single kidney donation (IDSKD).
• To assess the prospective increase in kidney transplantation rates attributable to IDSKD.

Main Methods:

• Retrospective analysis of potential IDSKD cases within a defined service area.
• Estimation of the additional kidney transplants achievable through IDSKD.

Main Results:

• Imminent death single kidney donation (IDSKD) demonstrated the potential to increase kidney transplants by approximately 5% in the study's service area.
• This suggests IDSKD could be a viable supplementary organ procurement method.

Conclusions:

• IDSKD presents a promising avenue to augment the kidney donor pool.
• Further research and ethical considerations are warranted to integrate IDSKD into existing transplantation frameworks.
• This strategy could significantly impact the future landscape of organ donation and transplantation.