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    Should children ever be living kidney donors?
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    Abstract:
    Abstract: Living kidney donation by minors is an infrequently performed although highly controversial procedure. This manuscript reports the frequency of this practice in North America, Europe, Australia and New Zealand. The relevant laws and professional guidelines are reviewed and the ethical considerations discussed.
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    Kidney donation
    Forty-five potential living donors participated in this study to see if a human interest video featuring living donors and recipients who had been through the transplant process would increase living-donor donation rates and knowledge about living-donor organ donation. While neither donation rates nor knowledge achieved statistical significance, the data clearly demonstrated a clinically significant (clinically relevant) increase in donation rates.
    Kidney donation
    Citations (5)
    Although living kidney donors' experiences with donation have been studied, questions of potential bias in retrospective donor reports remain. This study examined the experience of living kidney donation from 3 perspectives: those of the donor, the recipient, and a third party involved with the donation (ie, a donor triad). Surveys were completed with 174 donor triads to examine triad members' perceptions of donors' concerns before transplantation, whether these concerns came true after transplantation, the donors' experiences with surgery and recovery, and whether they would make the same decision again today. Triad members all agreed that donors were highly satisfied with their donation experience and that the relationship between recipient and donor improved after transplantation. Although recipients and third parties correctly identified the donors' primary concerns, they underestimated the prevalence of 16 of 18 donor concerns, including the donors' willingness to make the same decision again. Recipients also overestimated how painful and difficult the surgery and recovery were for donors. The results suggest that retrospective studies of donors may not be marred by significant misreporting or memory biases and that better education about the donation experience for the entire donor triad might provide better social support for donors, reduce recipients' guilt about donors' pain, and increase donation rates overall.
    Kidney donation
    Triad (sociology)
    Citations (57)
    In Europe, living kidney donation rates differ considerably from country to country. These differences are related to deceased kidney donation rates: countries with higher deceased donation rates have lower living donation rates. Despite the differences, all countries have one thing in common, namely, the shortage of kidneys for transplantation. Living kidney donation is a good option to alleviate these shortages. In our center, 60% to 70% of all kidney transplants come from living donors. This article describes various strategies that may have contributed to these high living donation rates: team attitude, educational materials and meetings, and alternative donation programs (exchange donation, domino-paired donation, Good Samaritan donation). Also described are some less conventional strategies for increasing rate of living kidney donation that are not used in the Netherlands but may offer some good perspectives (eg, the “Norwegian approach” and home-based educational programs).
    Economic shortage
    Kidney donation
    Public surveys conducted in many countries report widespread willingness of individuals to donate a kidney while alive to a family member or close friend, yet thousands suffer and many die each year while waiting for a kidney transplant. Advocates of financial incentive programs or "regulated markets" in kidneys present the problem of the kidney shortage as one of insufficient public motivation to donate, arguing that incentives will increase the number of donors. Others believe the solutions lie-at least in part-in facilitating so-called "altruistic donation;" harnessing the willingness of relatives and friends to donate by addressing the many barriers which serve as disincentives to living donation. Strategies designed to minimize financial barriers to donation and the use of paired kidney exchange programs are increasingly enabling donation, and now, an innovative program designed to address what has been termed "chronologically incompatible donation" is being piloted at the University of California, Los Angeles, and elsewhere in the United States. In this program, a person whose kidney is not currently required for transplantation in a specific recipient may instead donate to the paired exchange program; in return, a commitment is made to the specified recipient that priority access for a living-donor transplant in a paired exchange program will be offered when or if the need arises in the future. We address here potential ethical concerns related to this form of organ "banking" from living donors, and argue that it offers significant benefits without undermining the well-established ethical principles and values currently underpinning living donation programs.
    Kidney donation
    Citations (16)
    Most living organ donations are from genetically or emotionally related donors. Although some transplant centers are willing to accept donations from living anonymous kidney donors (LAKDs), very few centers will accept donations from living anonymous liver donors (LALDs). The difference in acceptance rates is primarily due to the greater risk in liver donation, which is estimated to be 10-fold that of the risk in kidney donation. We present a case of donation from a LALD, the first reported in Canada. There are currently no established standards for LALDs. Our criteria for the ethical acceptability of LALDs require such donors to be physically healthy, mentally competent, altruistic, highly motivated, well-informed and able to give voluntary consent to donation. Another major ethical criterion is that the likely psychological benefit to the LALD balances the physical risks. Our case demonstrates that transplants from LALDs are medically successful and ethically justified under certain conditions.
    Kidney donation
    Altruism
    Background. This is the first large-scale interview study carried out in patients and potential donors who seem unwilling or unable to pursue living kidney donation. By investigating these groups, we explored whether further expansion of the living kidney donation program is feasible. Methods. We interviewed 91 patients on the waiting list for a kidney transplant who did not pursue living kidney donation and their potential donors (n=53). We also included a comparison group. All respondents underwent an in-depth interview by a psychologist about topics that could influence their willingness to pursue living kidney donation. Results. A total of 78% of the patients on the waiting list were willing to accept the offer of a living donor. The main reason for not pursuing living kidney donation was reluctance to discuss the issue with the potential donors. This was also found in the comparison group. Both groups indicated that if there was no donor offer, they tended to interpret this as a refusal to donate. This interpretation not always holds: more than one third (19 of 53) of the potential donors were open to consider themselves as a potential donor. On the other hand, a comparably sized group of potential donors (21 of 53) was reluctant about donation. The main reason for donor reluctance was fear for their health after donation. Conclusion. The majority of patients on the waiting list are willing to accept a living kidney donor, but adopt an awaiting attitude towards their potential donors. Offering those patients professional assistance should be considered.
    Kidney donation
    Waiting list
    Abstract Since the waiting time for deceased donor kidney transplantation continues to increase, living donor kidney transplantation is an important treatment for end stage kidney disease patients. Barriers to living kidney donation have been rarely investigated despite a growing interest in the utilization of living donor transplantation and the satisfaction of donor safety. Here, we retrospectively analyzed 1,658 potential donors and 1,273 potential recipients who visited the Seoul National University Hospital for living kidney transplantation between 2010 and 2017 to study the causes of donation failure. Among 1,658 potential donors, 902 (54.4%) failed to donate kidneys. The average number of potential donors that received work-up was 1.30 ± 0.66 per recipient. Among living donor kidney transplant patients, 75.1% received kidneys after work-up of the first donor and 24.9% needed work-up of two or more donors. Donor-related factors (49.2%) were the most common causes of donation failure, followed by immunologic or size mismatches between donors and recipients (25.4%) and recipient-related factors (16.2%). Interestingly, withdrawal of donation will along with refusal by recipients or family were the commonest causes, suggesting the importance of non-biomedical aspects. The elucidation of the barriers to living kidney donation could ensure more efficient and safer living kidney donation.
    Kidney donation
    The rate of living kidney donation from 2006 to 2012 was roughly the same in Australia and New Zealand, but the rate of Good Samaritan donation was significantly higher in New Zealand (1.49 donors/million) than in Australia (0.23 donors/million). Three possible reasons for New Zealand's high rate of Good Samaritan donation are explored: (1) since 2005, New Zealand has offered a tax-free financial safety net for living donors; (2) unlike Australia, New Zealand is not carved into jurisdictional segments with multiple policies on Good Samaritan donation, lending to a streamlined approach; (3) New Zealand embraces e-technology to communicate the concept of Good Samaritan donation to the public. Additionally, New Zealand's recent initiatives to increase the rate of living donation are described.
    Kidney donation
    Citations (5)