Kidney transplant chain is the world's longest
At Loyola University Medical Center in Maywood, IL, a patient has become the final link in the world's longest living-donor kidney transplant chain.
The chain involved 30 donors, 30 recipients, and 17 hospitals nationwide. The record-breaking chain is described in a recent front-page article in The New York Times1, "Lives forever linked through kidney transplant chain 124."
Living-donor chains have the potential to dramatically reduce transplant waiting times for thousands of patients. Loyola has started 13 kidney transplant chains. That's second only to Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, which has started 17 chains, according to the National Kidney Registry, which coordinates kidney chains. In 2011, Loyola started more chains than any other center.
Patients typically must wait as long as 5-10 years to receive a kidney from a deceased donor. Having a living donor can eliminate the wait. But in one-third of such cases, a transplant can't be done because the immune systems of the patient and a willing donor don't match.
A kidney chain provides an innovative solution. Each chain begins when a good samaritan steps forward to donate a kidney, expecting nothing in return. For example, say the good samaritan donates a kidney to a patient we'll call John. John's wife, Mary, would have donated a kidney to her husband, but her kidney doesn't match. So instead of donating to John, Mary "pays it forward" by donating to a second patient, Bill. Bill's sister is willing to donate, but she doesn't match Bill. So she instead gives her kidney to a third patient, whom she does match.
The chain can go on indefinitely, moving from hospital to hospital across the country. It stops only when a recipient does not have a friend or family member who can keep the chain going. The previous record for the longest chain, set in 2010 by the National Kidney Registry, was 23 transplants.
The recent record-breaking chain began when a good samaritan donated a kidney at Riverside (CA) Community Hospital. His kidney was flown cross-country to a recipient at St. Barnabas Medical Center in Livingston, NJ. From there, the chain moved back and forth across the country, stopping at Loyola on the 12th link, and finishing at Loyola on the 30th link.
The last donor in the chain was a 59-year-old California woman. Her kidney was removed at UCLA and flown in the middle of the night to Loyola. The National Kidney Registry ended the chain at Loyola, rather than at another center, because Loyola had started so many previous chains with good samaritan donors. This effort made Loyola eligible based on the registry's chain-ending policy.
Thirteen chains have started at Loyola. So far, 11 chains have ended at Loyola, benefiting 11 patients who otherwise would have languished on the waiting list. Six other Loyola patients also have been involved in transplant chains, which brings the total to 17.
Of the 13 good samaritans who jump-started kidney transplant chains at Loyola, five are Loyola employees who donated kidneys to strangers. Two other Loyola employees have given kidneys to acquaintances. Collectively, they are known as the Seven Sisters of Loyola. Loyola is believed to be the only organization in the world in which seven employees have donated kidneys to non-relatives.
The National Kidney Registry has coordinated 77 transplant chains that have provided kidneys to 393 patients, but kidney chains have the potential to provide kidneys to as many as 20,000 patients immediately, and 3,000 patients per year thereafter.
Reference
- Sack K. 60 Lives, 30 Kidneys, All linked. The New York Times, Feb. 18, 2012: http://nyti.ms/xypHNU.
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