Outcomes of renal patients from the Ivory Coast transplanted abroad: time for a local kidney transplantation program

On Patients Who Purchase Organ Transplants Abroad

The international transplant community portrays organ trade as a growing and serious crime involving large numbers of traveling patients who purchase organs. We present a systematic review about the published number of patients who purchased organs. With this information, we discuss whether the scientific literature reflects a substantial practice of organ purchase. Between 2000 and 2015, 86 studies were published. Seventy-six of these presented patients who traveled and 42 stated that the transplants were commercial. Only 11 studies reported that patients paid, and eight described to what or whom patients paid. In total, during a period of 42 years, 6002 patients have been reported to travel for transplantation. Of these, only 1238 were reported to have paid for their transplants. An additional unknown number of patients paid for their transplants in their native countries. We conclude that the scientific literature does not reflect a large number of patients buying organs. Organ purchases were more often assumed than determined. A reporting code for transplant professionals to report organ trafficking networks is a potential strategy to collect and quantify cases.

Living Kidney Donor Transplantation in a Resource-limited Country: The Ivory Coast Experience

Renal transplantation that offers a good quality of life still is not performed by the majority of countries of black Africa. We started a pilot project of renal transplantation in Ivory Coast 2 years ago. The present paper reports the preliminary results, difficulties related to the program, and perspectives regarding its expansion. Ten living related kidney transplantations have been performed over a 2-year period. Recipients and their respective donors were male. The mean age of the recipients was 42.8 years (22-57), and the mean age of the donors was 29.4 years (22-43). The mean number of mismatches was 3.2 (0-6). None was immunized. Recipients and donors were all EBV IgG positive and CMV IgG positive. All but 1 case were induced with basiliximab. The mean graft and patient survival time was 16.6 months (6-26). The mean cold ischemic time was 2.27 hours (1-3.32). The mean serum creatinine at discharge was 241.87 μmol/L (115.18-1063.2), at 6 months was 117.20 μmol/l (95.6-139.9), at 12 months was 104.55 μmol/L (62.02-132.9), and at 24 months was 104.55 μmol/L (62.02-132.9). The mean cyclosporine through level (C0) at 6 months was 137.57 ng/mL (70-366), at 12 months was 117.33 ng/mL (62-197), and at 24 months was 78 ng/mL. The mean cyclosporine 2-hour post-administration concentration levels (C2) at 6 months was 764.9 ng/mL (430-1421), at 12 months was 937.17 ng/mL (483-1292), and at 24 months was 690.66 ng/mL (488-853). Main complications were sepsis, adenovirus hemorrhagic cystitis, new-onset diabetes after transplantation, delayed graft function, polycythemia, and cytomegalovirus infection. No clinical rejection was diagnosed over the 2-year period. Patient and graft survival was 100% at a mean post-transplantation time of approximately 16.6 months.

Key issues in transplant tourism

Access to organ transplantation depends on national circumstances, and is partly determined by the cost of health care, availability of transplant services, the level of technical capacity and the availability of organs. Commercial transplantation is estimated to account for 5%-10% (3500-7000) of kidney transplants performed annually throughout the world. This review is to determine the state and outcome of renal transplantation associated with transplant tourism (TT) and the key challenges with such transplantation. The stakeholders of commercial transplantation include: patients on the waiting lists in developed countries or not on any list in developing countries; dialysis funding bodies; middlemen, hosting transplant centres; organ-exporting countries; and organ vendors. TT and commercial kidney transplants are associated with a high incidence of surgical complications, acute rejection and invasive infection which cause major morbidity and mortality. There are ethical and medical concerns regarding the management of recipients of organs from vendors. The growing demand for transplantation, the perceived failure of altruistic donation in providing enough organs has led to calls for a legalised market in organ procurement or regulated trial in incentives for donation. Developing transplant services worldwide has many benefits - improving results of transplantation as they would be performed legally, increasing the donor pool and making TT unnecessary. Meanwhile there is a need to re-examine intrinsic attitudes to TT bearing in mind the cultural and economic realities of globalisation. Perhaps the World Health Organization in conjunction with The Transplantation Society would set up a working party of stakeholders to study this matter in greater detail and make recommendations.