State of the Art Practices and Policies in Kidney Paired Donation

Abstract

Approximately one-third of kidney transplant candidates have medically acceptable living donors, but are unable to receive transplants due to donor–recipient incompatibilities. Kidney paired donation (KPD) is a strategy that matches incompatible pairs in order to find compatible matches, thus increasing living donor transplantation. The concept was first conceived in 1986. Since then, significant strides have been made. However, the technique remains underutilized. This article describes the current advances, types of paired donation programmes, registries, worldwide experience, outcomes, barriers, and limitations.