Media appeals by pediatric patients for living donors and the impact on a transplant center.

Little is published regarding the effect of advertising for kidney donors on transplant centers. At our center, families of nine children used media appeals. Per candidate, there were 8 to 260 potential donor calls, 92 (11.6%) were medically ineligible, 326 (41.1%) voluntarily did not proceed or an alternate donor had been approved, 38 (4.8%) were ABO incompatible, and 327 (41.1%) had positive crossmatch or unsuitable human leukocyte antigens. Media appeals resulted in four living donor transplants and five nondirected donors to other candidates, and we made directed changes in our center. The ethical debate of advertising for organ donors continues.