Canadian Blood Services has just launched a new registry that will make it easier for those suffering from kidney disease to find a donor who's willing to give up a kidney to help them.
The agency calls the program the Living Donor Paired Exchange Registry and says it's an innovative registry designed to match healthy Canadians who want to donate one of their two kidneys with patients suffering from end-stage kidney disease who are in need of a transplant.
The registry will help find matches between people with similar blood groups and tissue types. Once an acceptable match is made, a swap can occur between two sets of kidney donors and recipients.
The registry will allow for those who want to donate their kidney anaymously to anyone who needs it, as well as allow "paired exchanges."
Frequently, healthy Canadians are unable to donate their kidneys to a relative or friend because their blood groups or tissue types don't match. In a paired exchange, these willing donors are matched with another compatible recipient on the registry. Then, the donor's intended recipient finds another match through the registry, and a swap occurs between two sets of donors and recipients.
Canadian Blood Services forecasts that the Living Donor Paired Exchange Registry will increase live kidney donations in Canada by 20 per cent or more. The more pairs that register, they say, the greater the chances of finding compatible kidney matches.
Dr. Peter Nickerson, Executive Medical Director of Organ Transplantation at Canadian Blood Services, says the Living Donor Paired Exchange Registry is a major advance for kidney transplants in Canada.
"Creating a centralized registry such as this gives us critical mass, greatly increases the chances of finding suitable matches, and more living donors will have their wishes fulfilled. Canadians in need will now be able to get compatible kidneys faster, and that will save lives."
The agency says it now has the registry operating in Ontario, B.C. Alberta in partnership with pilot programs in those provinces as well as with the Canadian Society for Transplantation. Rollout to the rest of the country is now underway, with 23 recipient and potential donor pairs already on the list.
About 35,000 Canadians suffer from kidney disease and 3,000 of them are on waiting lists for a transplant, according to the Canadian Organ Replacement Register (CORR).
In 2007, there were nearly 1,200 kidney transplants performed in Canada, with about 480 coming from live donors.
Live kidney donations have been growing in recent years, while kidney donations from deceased donors have been growing at a slower pace.
While kidney transplants carry some medical risk, the benefits to kidney disease patients are enormous. Many are able to end dialysis treatments and return to normal lives.
Studies have also shown that kidney transplants conducted through paired donations save the healthcare system an average of $1 million per transplant compared to the costs of keeping that patient on long-term kidney dialysis.
Many who donate their kidneys offer it to a relative or a friend. But some donors offer their kidneys anonymously. Why would someone want to give a stranger one of their kidneys? Just ask former school teacher Kathryn McIntyre.
At the end of 2008, McIntyre offered one of her healthy kidneys to whoever needed it most, through the Toronto General Hospital's transplant program. Her generosity resulted in four people receiving kidneys in a chain reaction in a domino surgery in Canada that involved eight people, including her.
"Why do it? Because I can," said McIntyre.
