How does the United Network for Organ Donation (UNOS) matched deceased donor organs to patients waiting for a transplant?
When a patient is added to the waiting list, his/her medical profile is entered into the UNOS computer database, where it becomes part of a “pool” of patient names. Every time an organ becomes available, the computer system compares all patients in the pool to the donor and generates a list of patients who match the donor organ. Patients who identically match the organ are given higher priority. Criteria for a match includes biologic compatibility between the donor and the recipient (such as blood type and genetic makeup), and time spent on the waiting list. If there is no identical match, local candidates are given higher priority, followed by regional and national candidates.
