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Double kidney transplants mooted
3/12/2006
Transplanting two kidneys of limited quality could be as good as giving one high-function organ, a study has found, reports BBC.
A US short-term study found a 100 per cent survival rate among 19 patients who had double transplants of kidneys earlier rejected for having limited function.
Researchers at Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center in North Carolina said double transplants could help solve the organ donor shortage.
The study was presented to the US Central Surgical Association.
The organs came from deceased donors, but had been turned down by other centres because they had limited function.
They either came from children and were very small or were from older adults who had begun to lose some kidney function.
Dr Robert Stratta, one of the lead researchers, said a key to success was selecting patients with a lower risk of rejection and matching the estimated function of the kidneys to the needs of the recipient.
Adult transplant recipients were followed up for a period of 20 months, while children were monitored for 10 months.
Dr Stratta said: "Performing double transplants using kidneys that would otherwise be discarded may be one viable solution to the growing shortage of organs for transplantation.
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