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DECK (DECeased Kidney) cross-over program

Work in collaboration with: A. Nicolò, L. Furian, C. Silvestre, F. Rossi, P. Rigotti, E. Cozzi and F. Neri

Using deceased-donor kidneys to initiate chains of living donor kidney paired donations, a new algorithm currently used nationally in Italy.

We designed a flexible algorithm that exploits deceased donor kidneys to initiate chains of living donor kidney paired donations, combining deceased and living donor allocation mechanisms to improve the quantity and quality of kidney transplants.

The usefulness of the proposed program results undeniable, increasing the overall number of kidneys available for transplantation and, consequently, the aggregate quality and quantity of life of end-stage-renal-disease patients.

The project is the result of a collaboration between the departments of Mathematics, Economy and Medicine of the University of Padova.

The Italian strategy

Our procedure has been first approved for a first trial at the local level (Padova University Hospital, the largest center for living donor kidney transplants in Italy), which resulted in the adoption of the new proposed strategy fist locally in Padova and successively nationally.

The first KP chain initiated by a deceased donor has been performed on March 14, 2018 in Padova and shortly after two more chains respectively of three and four length have been performed at national level showing the benefits of the program.

The cross-over algorithm

Our algorithm has two different components:

algorithm_new

(DD kidney: kidney from a deceased donor; K: kidney; P pairs: pair of donor/patient; UT patients: patients with unlikely transplantability, difficult to match)

Press coverage

References