title: Travel for transplantation and transplant commercialism in Argentina: a 4-decade experience from a University Hospital.
abstract: Travel for transplantation and transplant commercialism have become major issues in the last years, generating a passionate medical, legal, and ethical debate. We evaluated the general characteristics of patients who received a kidney transplant abroad and were subsequently followed in our institution. Then, we carried out a retrospective analysis of travelers' outcomes and compared them with a matched cohort of patients transplanted in our center. Between 1971 and 2008, 58 kidney transplants were performed outside Argentina and were subsequently followed up at our institution. The main destinations were the USA (32.8%), Bolivia (29.3%), and Brazil (17.2%). Deceased donor transplants were the most common (53.4%) followed by unrelated living donors (32.8%). No difference was observed between travelers and controls in terms of one-month and one-yr renal function and one-yr and five-yr graft survival. Travelers had significantly less time on dialysis before transplantation than controls. The major destination among all travelers was the USA, and the main destination for commercial transplants was Bolivia. The destination countries involved in our study and the apparent non-inferiority of travelers graft outcomes differ from those of previous reports.
authors: Nephrology and Transplantation Section, Department of Medicine, Hospital Universitario CEMIC, Buenos Aires, Argentina.
authors: Ezequiel
authors: E
authors: Rodríguez-Reimundes
authors: Gervasio
authors: G
authors: Soler-Pujol
authors: Carlos H
authors: CH
authors: Díaz
authors: Mario
authors: M
authors: Dávalos-Michel
authors: Luis J
authors: LJ
authors: Jost
authors: Gustavo
authors: G
authors: Laham
authors: Antonio R
authors: AR
authors: Vilches
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001118:Argentina; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006084:Graft Rejection / Q000401:mortality*; D006085:Graft Survival; D006785:Hospitals, University; D006801:Humans; D007676:Kidney Failure, Chronic / Q000601:surgery; D016030:Kidney Transplantation / Q000401:mortality*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011183:Postoperative Complications / Q000401:mortality*; D011379:Prognosis; D012042:Registries; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D015996:Survival Rate; D013997:Time Factors; D014019:Tissue Donors; D009927:Tissue and Organ Procurement / Q000379:methods*; D014195:Travel
keywords: Argentina; kidney transplantation; outcomes; transplant commercialism; travel for transplantation