International transoceanic kidney sharing

The shortage of cadaver kidneys for transplantation persists in most regions of the United States. Because so many patients have preformed antibodies against prospective donors, identification of appropriate donor-recipient pairs is proving difficult in spite of computerized interregional sharing. To avoid wasting valuable human organs, we have shared 11 kidneys between Italy, the Soviet Union, West Germany and the USA, 10 of which resulted in successful transplants. Such sharing guarantees better utilization of kidneys bilaterally and aids in transplanting cytotoxic patients by increasing the total number of kidneys available.