US Surgeons Complete 7-Pair Living Liver Exchange as 95% of Waitlist Needs Kidneys or Livers
Updated
Updated · Vox.com · Aug 24
US Surgeons Complete 7-Pair Living Liver Exchange as 95% of Waitlist Needs Kidneys or Livers
1 articles · Updated · Vox.com · Aug 24
Summary
Seven donor-recipient pairs completed the largest US living-donor liver exchange in San Antonio, with surgeons matching incompatible pairs over six weeks to deliver 7 transplants.
Only about 6% of roughly 12,000 US liver transplants last year used living donors, even though living donation can be scheduled and can ease pressure on the deceased-donor list.
No national liver registry, uneven screening and allocation protocols, and limited trained surgeons have kept the model from scaling, unlike kidney exchanges supported by the National Kidney Registry since 2007.
Donors also face weeks off work, travel and lodging costs, and patchy financial protections, constraining the pool of volunteers needed to expand paired exchanges.
New machine-perfusion preservation and a non-directed donor network launched by the American Liver Foundation may help, after a 2023 UNOS pilot shut down before completing a nationwide exchange.