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Updated: Jun 4, 2025
Normothermic Ex Vivo Kidney Perfusion for the Preservation of Kidney Grafts prior to Transplantation
Published on: July 15, 2015
Change in Allocation Pattern of Pediatric Deceased Donor Kidneys Following the Implementation of a New Allocation
Sanghoon Lee1, Kyo Won Lee1, Jae Berm Park1
1Department of Surgery, Samsung Medical Center, Sungkyunkwan University School of Medicine, Seoul, Korea.
Background:
The Organ Transplantation Act of Korea was amended to state that kidneys from deceased donors under age 19 (previously age 11) must be initially allocated to a waitlisted patient under age 19. The aim of this study was to analyze the change in allocation pattern of kidneys from pediatric donors following implementation of the new policy.
Methods:
Data from the Korean Network for Organ Sharing database included donor and recipient information of kidney transplants from pediatric donors from October 2014 to September 2020.
Results:
There were 2958 deceased donors. One hundred and sixty-three were under age 19 (163/2958, 5.5%). The study period was divided into two periods: Before policy change and after policy change. A total of 256 kidneys from 163 pediatric donors were allocated to waitlist patients. The proportion of kidneys allocated to recipients under age 19 was significantly higher after policy change (59/65, 90.8%) compared to before policy change (28/191, 14.7%, p < 0.01), with the increase most prominent in recipients aged 11-18 years. Mean time on the waitlist for all pediatric recipients of kidneys from pediatric deceased donors was 545.5 days before the change and 922.0 days after the change (p = 0.02). Mean time on the waitlist for recipients aged 1-10 years was not significantly different and that of recipients aged 11-18 years increased from 801.1 days to 1017.4 days.
Conclusion:
A sharp increase in proportion of pediatric kidney recipients from pediatric donors was observed following implementation of amended allocation policy in October 2018.
