title: A need to adopt new strategies for organ donation in Saudi Arabia.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  HLA matching in kidney transplantation is a major factor in long-term survival of the graft. In Saudi Arabia, most deceased donors are non-Saudi, making it difficult to achieve minimal HLA mismatches between donor and recipient.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To analyze HLA types of 200 deceased donors and compare them with the Saudi population's HLA types.
  
  
  METHODS
  In a retrospective study analyzing HLA types of the last 398 deceased donors processed in a tertiary hospital in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, HLA types of all donors were compared with HLA types from a control group of healthy Saudi persons.
  
  
  RESULTS
  HLA types were significantly different between the deceased donor group and the Saudi population. In all deceased donors, zero mismatches was never achieved. The major differences in HLA types were in HLA-A*02, HLA-B*15, B*40, B*50, HLA-DRB1*14, DRB1*15, and DRB1*04.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  As most of our deceased donors are non-Saudis, it is difficult to match for HLA-A, HLA-B, and HLA-DR. HLA matching should be attempted nationwide by adopting different strategies, including typing donors centrally and distributing results to all centers, agreeing on a national point system for allocating organs from deceased donors, and making HLA matching a priority, especially for highly sensitized patients.
authors.affiliation: King Abdullah International Medical Research Center College of Medicine, King Saud Bin Abdulaziz University for Health Sciences.
authors.forename: Dunia
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Jawdat
authors.affiliation: King Abdulaziz Medical City, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
authors.forename: Abdullah
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Shubaili
authors.affiliation: King Abdulaziz Medical City, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
authors.forename: Manal
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Gattan
authors.affiliation: King Abdulaziz Medical City, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
authors.forename: Paul
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Sutton
authors.affiliation: King Abdulaziz Medical City, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
authors.forename: Hanan
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Al Anazi
authors.affiliation: King Abdulaziz Medical City, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
authors.forename: Aishah
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Alanzi
authors.affiliation: College of Medicine, King Saud Bin Abdulaziz University for Health Sciences King Abdulaziz Medical City, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
authors.forename: Ali H
authors.initials: AH
authors.lastname: Hajeer
mesh_terms: D006680:HLA Antigens / Q000097:blood*; D006650:Histocompatibility Testing / Q000379:methods*; D006801:Humans; D016030:Kidney Transplantation; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012529:Saudi Arabia; D009927:Tissue and Organ Procurement / Q000458:organization & administration*
chemical_list: D006680:HLA Antigens