Participation of compatible donor to improve HLA matching can increase kidney transplant rate of O blood group patients

Seventy-seven kidney paired donation transplantations at a single transplant centre in India led to an increase in living donor kidney transplantations in 2015

Background

To ascertain the validity of kidney paired donations (KPDs) as an alternative strategy for increasing living donor kidney transplantations (LDKTs) in an LDKT-dominated transplant programme since directed kidney transplantation, ABO-incompatible or crossmatch-positive pairs are not feasible due to costs and infectious complications.

Methods

This was a prospective single-centre study of 77 KPD transplantations (25 two-way, 7 three-way and 1 six-way exchange) from 1 January 2015 to 1 January 2016 of 158 registered donor recipient pairs. During this period, a total of 380 kidney transplantations [71 deceased donor kidney transplantations (DDKTs), 309 LDKTs] were performed. The reasons for opting for KPD were ABO incompatibility (n = 45), sensitization (n = 26) and better matching (n = 6).

Results

KPD matching was facilitated in 62% (n = 98) of transplants. In all, 48.7% (n = 77) of the transplants were completed in 2015, whereas 13.3% (n = 21) of the matched patients were to undergo transplant surgery in early 2016 after getting legal permission. The waiting time for KPD was shorter compared with DDKT. The death-censored graft survival and patient survival were 98.7% (n = 76) and 93.5% (n = 72), respectively. In all, 14.2% (n = 11) of patients had acute rejection. Match rates among sensitized (n = 60) and O group patients (n = 62) were 58.3% (n = 35) and 41.9% (n = 26), respectively. Of these, 43.3% (n = 26) and 29% (n = 18) of transplants were completed and 15% (n = 9) and 12.9% (n = 8), respectively, are waiting for legal permission.

Conclusions

LDKT increased by 25% in 1 year in our single-centre KPD programme. Our key to success was the formation of a KPD registry, awareness and active counselling programs and developing a dedicated team.

Impact of single centre kidney paired donation transplantation to increase donor pool in India: a cohort study

In a living donor kidney transplantation (LDKT) dominated transplant programme, kidney paired donation (KPD) may be a cost-effective and valid alternative strategy to increase LDKT in countries with limited resources where deceased donation kidney transplantation (DDKT) is in the initial stages. Here, we report our experience of 300 single-centre KPD transplantations to increase LDKT in India. Between January 2000 and July 2016, 3616 LDKT and 561 DDKT were performed at our transplantation centre, 300 (8.3%) using KPD. The reasons for joining KPD among transplanted patients were ABO incompatibility (n = 222), positive cross-match (n = 59) and better matching (n = 19). A total of 124 two-way (n = 248), 14 three-way (n = 42), one four-way (n = 4) and one six-way exchange (n = 6) yielded 300 KPD transplants. Death-censored graft and patient survival were 96% (n = 288) and 83.3% (n = 250), respectively. The mean serum creatinine was 1.3 mg/dl at a follow-up of 3 ± 3 years. We credit the success of our KPD programme to maintaining a registry of incompatible pairs, counselling on KPD, a high-volume LDKT programme and teamwork. KPD is legal, cost effective and rapidly growing for facilitating LDKT with incompatible donors. This study provides large-scale evidence for the expansion of single-centre LDKT via KPD when national programmes do not exist.