[Geographic aspects in the allocation of kidney transplants in Switzerland]

By tradition kidney transplants in Switzerland are allocated to recipients on a regional basis. Since multi-organ donation became routine, teams traveling all over Switzerland have been accused of harvesting not only the livers but at the same time kidneys, thus withholding such kidneys from regional recipients. In order to investigate this suspicion, we analyzed the place of residence of all kidney donors and recipients during a twelve months' period. Shipping for reasons of matching was not analyzed. We found only minor imbalances between the six transplant centers. We conclude that the allocation of kidney transplants in Switzerland is satisfactory from a geographical point of view. The analysis of donor hospitals, however, shows intense organ recruitment in the referred area of Zurich. In other regions, abstinence from organ recruitment outside the transplant centers is evident. To increase organ availability, the motivation and collaboration of hospitals outside transplant centers needs to be improved.