The use of a minor as a live kidney donor.
An analysis of the UNOS database suggests a practice pattern that uses live minor kidney donors in clinical circumstances not endorsed by the recommendations of a recent consensus conference on live organ donation. These data reveal that minor donor kidneys were transplanted more frequently to adult than to pediatric recipients, that only 12% of all recipients were identical twins, and that the use of a minor donor provided no better outcome than that expected from an adult donor. Live organ donation from a minor should only be considered when there is no other living donor available and all other opportunities for transplantation have been exhausted.
Department of Surgery, Harvard Medical School, Massachusets General Hospital, Boston, USA. delmonico.francis@mgh.harvard.edu
Francis L
FL
Delmonico
William E
WE
Harmon
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D000375:Aging; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003245:Consensus Statements as Topic; D005260:Female; D006680:HLA Antigens / Q000276:immunology; D006801:Humans; D007258:Informed Consent; D016030:Kidney Transplantation / Q000941:ethics* / Q000276:immunology / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D008297:Male; D033242:Minors / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D017410:Practice Guidelines as Topic; D014019:Tissue Donors / Q000941:ethics* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D014180:Transplantation / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D014430:Twins, Monozygotic / Q000235:genetics
D006680:HLA Antigens