title: The need for a standardized informed consent procedure in live donor nephrectomy: a systematic review.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Informed consent in live donor nephrectomy is a topic of great interest. Safety and transparency are key items increasingly getting more attention from media and healthcare inspection. Because live donors are not patients, but healthy individuals undergoing elective interventions, they justly insist on optimal conditions and guaranteed safety. Although transplant professionals agree that consent should be voluntary, free of coercion, and fully informed, there is no consensus on which information should be provided, and how the donors' comprehension should be ascertained.
  
  
  METHODS
  Comprehensive searches were conducted in Embase, Medline OvidSP, Web-of-Science, PubMed, CENTRAL (The Cochrane Library 2014, issue 1) and Google Scholar, evaluating the informed consent procedure for live kidney donation. The methodology was in accordance with the Cochrane Handbook for Interventional Systematic Reviews and written based on the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) statement.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The initial search yielded 1,009 hits from which 21 articles fell within the scope of this study. Procedures vary greatly between centers, and transplant professionals vary in the information they disclose. Although research has demonstrated that donors often make their decision based on moral reasoning rather than balancing risks and benefits, providing them with accurate, uniform information remains crucial because donors report feeling misinformed about or unprepared for donation. Although a standardized procedure may not provide the ultimate solution, it is vital to minimize differences in live donor education between transplant centers.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  There is a definite need for a guideline on how to provide information and obtain informed consent from live kidney donors to assist the transplant community in optimally preparing potential donors.
authors.affiliation: 1 Division of Transplant Surgery, Department of Surgery, Erasmus MC, University Medical Center Rotterdam, Rotterdam, the Netherlands. 2 Address correspondence to: Frank J.M.F. Dor, MD PhD, Department of Surgery, Erasmus MC, University Medical Center Rotterdam, Room H-903 PO BOX 2040 3000 CA, Rotterdam, the Netherlands.
authors.forename: Kirsten
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Kortram
authors.forename: Jeffrey A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Lafranca
authors.forename: Jan N M
authors.initials: JN
authors.lastname: IJzermans
authors.forename: Frank J M F
authors.initials: FJ
authors.lastname: Dor
mesh_terms: D022126:Access to Information; D003142:Communication; D003657:Decision Making; D006301:Health Services Needs and Demand; D006801:Humans; D007258:Informed Consent; D016030:Kidney Transplantation / Q000379:methods*; D019520:Living Donors; D009392:Nephrectomy / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence / Q000379:methods / Q000592:standards*; D010353:Patient Education as Topic; D051437:Renal Insufficiency / Q000601:surgery; D020858:Tissue and Organ Harvesting