Underutilization of Timely Kidney Transplants in Those With Living Donors.

Preemptive kidney transplant (PKTx) and kidney transplant (KTx) within 1 year of dialysis initiation have been associated with superior outcomes. Wait times should be minimal for transplants with living donors; however, there is lack of literature studying utilization of timely KTx in this population. We designed this retrospective study using data from United Network for Organ Sharing Standard Transplant Analysis and Research files from 2000 to 2012 to assess the trends in utilization of PKTx and Early KTx (combination of PKTx or transplant within 1 year of dialysis initiation) in recipients of living donor KTx. Only 32.6% transplants were PKTx, and 61.9% were Early KTx. A significant improvement in proportion of PKTx was seen from 27.5% in 2000 to 35.4% in 2006, with no change since. Similarly, the proportion of Early KTx increased from 61.4% in 2000 to 63.6% in 2006, with no increase since. Similar results were seen after adjusted analysis and were independent of living donor type. Although there was some improvement in utilization of timely transplants in the early part of the last decade, there has been no improvement since. Considering the benefits of timely kidney transplant, it is important to understand the reasons behind the same and to improve utilization.

Planning for Uncertainty and Fallbacks Can Increase the Number of Transplants in a Kidney-Paired Donation Program.

A kidney-paired donation (KPD) pool consists of transplant candidates and their incompatible donors, along with nondirected donors (NDDs). In a match run, exchanges are arranged among pairs in the pool via cycles, as well as chains created from NDDs. A problem of importance is how to arrange cycles and chains to optimize the number of transplants. We outline and examine, through example and by simulation, four schemes for selecting potential matches in a realistic model of a KPD system; proposed schemes take account of probabilities that chosen transplants may not be completed as well as allowing for contingency plans when the optimal solution fails. Using data on candidate/donor pairs and NDDs from the Alliance for Paired Donation, the simulations extend over 8 match runs, with 30 pairs and 1 NDD added between each run. Schemes that incorporate uncertainties and fallbacks into the selection process yield substantially more transplants on average, increasing the number of transplants by as much as 40% compared to a standard selection scheme. The gain depends on the degree of uncertainty in the system. The proposed approaches can be easily implemented and provide substantial advantages over current KPD matching algorithms.