Britons in first 3-way kidney transplants
Source: Agencies |
March 9, 2010, Tuesday
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Print Edition
Print Edition
KIDNEY transplant procedures in which three donors agreed to "pool" their organs, so a loved one could receive a compatible kidney from a stranger, have been performed for the first time in Britain, doctors said yesterday.
Two three-way transplants - very rare in Britain but more common in the United States - took place at the end of 2009, the Human Tissue Authority (HTA), said.
The organ donation authority said it hoped the success would point the way to more donor pooling in future.
Each procedure involved a donor and recipient pair who knew each other but were incompatible for transplant and so were matched with two other donors and recipients in the same situation - in effect creating a "pool" of organ donors and recipients.
"This is the first time we have seen a three-way transplant and it is a fantastic story," said Vicki Chapman, director of policy at the HTA, which regulates living organ donation.
Donor pooling became legal in Britain in 2006 and experts say around 20 two-way swaps have been carried out since then, but the cases reported on Monday were the first in which a larger number of donors and recipients was involved.
US doctors said in a study last year that such chains could involve as many as 10 or more transplant patients there and could make many more organs available to the 80,000 people in the US waiting for them.
The vast majority of living transplants carried out in Britain are between people who are either emotionally or genetically linked, such as husbands and wives, brothers and sisters or friends.
One in three kidneys used in the country's transplants comes from a living donor.
Two three-way transplants - very rare in Britain but more common in the United States - took place at the end of 2009, the Human Tissue Authority (HTA), said.
The organ donation authority said it hoped the success would point the way to more donor pooling in future.
Each procedure involved a donor and recipient pair who knew each other but were incompatible for transplant and so were matched with two other donors and recipients in the same situation - in effect creating a "pool" of organ donors and recipients.
"This is the first time we have seen a three-way transplant and it is a fantastic story," said Vicki Chapman, director of policy at the HTA, which regulates living organ donation.
Donor pooling became legal in Britain in 2006 and experts say around 20 two-way swaps have been carried out since then, but the cases reported on Monday were the first in which a larger number of donors and recipients was involved.
US doctors said in a study last year that such chains could involve as many as 10 or more transplant patients there and could make many more organs available to the 80,000 people in the US waiting for them.
The vast majority of living transplants carried out in Britain are between people who are either emotionally or genetically linked, such as husbands and wives, brothers and sisters or friends.
One in three kidneys used in the country's transplants comes from a living donor.
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