INTRODUCTION: The goal of the Eurotransplant renal allocation scheme is to provide every patient on the waiting list with a reasonably balanced opportunity for a donor offer. New initiatives were taken in order to maximize donor usage while maintaining a successful transplant outcome. METHODS: Two Eurotransplant projects were launched in order to accommodate changes in donor and recipient profiles. A re-addressing of the non-heart-beating donor pool was undertaken and an allocation scheme in which organs from donors aged >65 are allocated to recipients aged >65 [the Eurotransplant Senior Programme (ESP)] was introduced. RESULTS: Especially in The Netherlands, an enormous increase in the number of non-heart-beating donor kidneys has been observed, however with a pace-keeping reduction in heart-beating donors. The organization-wide implementation of the ESP has been successful. The 3 year graft survival rates for these age-matched transplants were as good as the human leukocyte antigen (HLA)-matched transplants (64 vs 67%) (P = 0.4). CONCLUSION: Within the framework of sound research, the utmost flexibility and creativity is needed to keep or even increase the number of renal transplants when faced with a quantitatively stagnating but qualitatively deteriorating donor pool. Both the non-heart-beating donor protocol and the ESP have proven to be quite successful in achieving this goal without compromising the outcome for the individual end-stage renal disease patient.
INTRODUCTION: The goal of the Eurotransplant renal allocation scheme is to provide every patient on the waiting list with a reasonably balanced opportunity for a donor offer. New initiatives were taken in order to maximize donor usage while maintaining a successful transplant outcome. METHODS: Two Eurotransplant projects were launched in order to accommodate changes in donor and recipient profiles. A re-addressing of the non-heart-beating donor pool was undertaken and an allocation scheme in which organs from donors aged >65 are allocated to recipients aged >65 [the Eurotransplant Senior Programme (ESP)] was introduced. RESULTS: Especially in The Netherlands, an enormous increase in the number of non-heart-beating donor kidneys has been observed, however with a pace-keeping reduction in heart-beating donors. The organization-wide implementation of the ESP has been successful. The 3 year graft survival rates for these age-matched transplants were as good as the human leukocyte antigen (HLA)-matched transplants (64 vs 67%) (P = 0.4). CONCLUSION: Within the framework of sound research, the utmost flexibility and creativity is needed to keep or even increase the number of renal transplants when faced with a quantitatively stagnating but qualitatively deteriorating donor pool. Both the non-heart-beating donor protocol and the ESP have proven to be quite successful in achieving this goal without compromising the outcome for the individual end-stage renal diseasepatient.
Authors: Erwin J O Kompanje; Jan Bakker; François J A Slieker; Jan N M IJzermans; Andrew I R Maas Journal: Intensive Care Med Date: 2006-01-24 Impact factor: 17.440
Authors: Eric S Orman; Maria E Mayorga; Stephanie B Wheeler; Rachel M Townsley; Hector H Toro-Diaz; Paul H Hayashi; A Sidney Barritt Journal: Liver Transpl Date: 2015-08 Impact factor: 5.799
Authors: María José Pérez-Sáez; Núria Montero; Dolores Redondo-Pachón; Marta Crespo; Julio Pascual Journal: Transplantation Date: 2017-04 Impact factor: 4.939
Authors: Markus Giessing; T Florian Fuller; Frank Friedersdorff; Serdar Deger; Andreas Wille; Hans-Hellmut Neumayer; Danilo Schmidt; Klemens Budde; Lutz Liefeldt Journal: J Am Soc Nephrol Date: 2008-12-10 Impact factor: 10.121