December 1, 2009

‘Chain’ Links Kidney Patients With Donors

By Kelley Luckstein

There are nearly 83,000 Americans waiting for a kidney transplant. A 10-hour event called a Kidney Transplant Chain allowed Mayo Clinic in Rochester to scratch four names off the list this past week. It involved a team of seven surgeons, three operating rooms, four kidney patients and four living donors.

 

Tom and and his son, Andrew Dinsdale, from Cedar Rapids, Iowa, were part of the chain. Tom had diseased kidneys for 40 years…Andrew had been begging his father to take one of his kidneys to spare Tom an estimated six years on a donor organ waiting list…

 

When Tom finally agreed, tests revealed his son was not a medical match. Director of Mayo's Kidney Transplant Program, Dr. Mikel Prieto, said it is not uncommon for family members not to match. "We have a fair [number] of people who do have a donor, but for one reason or another, blood group or tissue type their donor is not compatible with them," said Dr. Prieto. "But, that doesn't mean they can't be compatible with somebody else."

 

WCCO  by Dennis Douda, 11/30/09

Tags: kidney donor chain, Transplant

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