What is being done to close the gap between patients on the transplant list and those receiving organ transplants?
Living donation is one solution to this problem by eliminating deaths on the transplant waiting list. Living donations may come from altruistic donors (those without a familial or other relationship with a particular patient in need-they are simply motivated to help others) or from donors in a living donor kidney exchange program (in NJ it is the Mid-Atlantic Paired Exchange Program). The living registry is designed to bring together pairs of willing donors and people in need of transplant who are incompatible in regard to blood type or other indicators with other non-matching pairs. Then by re-sorting the pairs, compatible matches can be made to allow for kidney exchange. This process to make living donations more widely available is a great benefit to transplant recipients. Studies have shown that a live donor kidney remains functioning twice as long, on average, as a kidney received from a deceased donor. These new advances in registration and matching techniques will greatly enhanc
