Kidney transplantation in patients with end-stage renal disease is efficacious, cost-effective, and improves quality of life relative to maintenance dialysis; the availability of donor kidneys, however, is limited. Determining the most appropriate method by which to allocate deceased donor organs in an efficient and just manner poses a complex challenge.
This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution
Access options
Subscribe to this journal
Receive 12 print issues and online access
$209.00 per year
only $17.42 per issue
Buy this article
- Purchase on Springer Link
- Instant access to full article PDF
Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout
References
Rose, C. et al. A lifetime of allograft function with kidneys from older donors. J. Am. Soc. Nephrol. http://dx.doi.org/10.1681/ASN.2014080771.
Wolfe, R. A. et al. Comparison of mortality in all patients on dialysis, patients on dialysis awaiting transplantation, and recipients of a first cadaveric transplant. N. Engl. J. Med. 341, 1725–1730 (1999).
Gaylin, D. S. et al. The impact of comorbid and sociodemographic factors on access to renal transplantation. JAMA 269, 603–608 (1993).
Gill, J. S. et al. The impact of waiting time and comorbid conditions on the survival benefit of kidney transplantation. Kidney Int. 68, 2345–2351 (2005).
Ojo, A. O. et al. Survival in recipients of marginal cadaveric donor kidneys compared with other recipients and wait-listed transplant candidates. J. Am. Soc. Nephrol. 12, 589–597 (2001).
Oniscu, G. C. et al. Impact of cadaveric renal transplantation on survival in patients listed for transplantation. J. Am. Soc. Nephrol. 16, 1859–1865 (2005).
Massie, A. B. et al. Survival benefit of primary deceased donor transplantation with high-KDPI kidneys. Am. J. Transplant. 14, 2310–2316 (2014).
Merion, R. M. et al. Deceased-donor characteristics and the survival benefit of kidney transplantation. JAMA 294, 2726–2733 (2005).
Schold, J. D. & Meier-Kriesche, H. U. Which renal transplant candidates should accept marginal kidneys in exchange for a shorter waiting time on dialysis? Clin. J. Am. Soc. Nephrol. 1, 532–538 (2006).
Gondos, A. et al. Kidney graft survival in Europe and the United States: strikingly different long-term outcomes. Transplantation 95, 267–274 (2013).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Competing interests
The authors declare no competing financial interests.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Schold, J., Opelz, G. The vexing challenges of deceased donor organ allocation. Nat Rev Nephrol 11, 448–450 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1038/nrneph.2015.71
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nrneph.2015.71
