Despite a push to get more people to donate organs, and trying new approaches to reduce shortages, transplant demand still far outstrips organ supply. So it’s worth noting one more idea to increase supply: transplanting kidneys from donors with cancer.
Surgeons at the University of Maryland School of Medicine in Baltimore have transplanted five kidneys from which they had removed small masses, three of which were cancerous, according to a paper in the urology journal BJUI. Four of the five patients have survived between nine months and 41 months so far without any evidence of recurring tumors. The fifth transplant patient died about a year after the operation because of a fall in an accident.
“Transplanting a living donor kidney which has been affected by a renal mass is
controversial and considered a high risk” urologist Michael W Phelan, co-author of the study, said in a statement. “However the ongoing shortage of organs from deceased donors, and the high risk of dying while waiting for a transplant, prompted five donors and recipients to push
ahead with surgery after the small masses were found in the donor kidneys.”
More than 4,500 kidney patients died last year because no transplant organ was available, and 82,000 patients were on the waiting list for a kidney as of last month, according to the National Kidney Foundation.
Even so, the idea of transplanting kidneys needing to have cancerous masses removed takes getting used to, even for patients at very high risk. And this comes in an arena where there has been no shortage of debate over various attempts to increase the number of transplant organs. See our posts here and here to read more on that.
Surgeons at the University of Maryland School of Medicine in Baltimore have transplanted five kidneys from which they had removed small masses, three of which were cancerous, according to a paper in the urology journal BJUI. Four of the five patients have survived between nine months and 41 months so far without any evidence of recurring tumors. The fifth transplant patient died about a year after the operation because of a fall in an accident.
“Transplanting a living donor kidney which has been affected by a renal mass is
controversial and considered a high risk” urologist Michael W Phelan, co-author of the study, said in a statement. “However the ongoing shortage of organs from deceased donors, and the high risk of dying while waiting for a transplant, prompted five donors and recipients to push
ahead with surgery after the small masses were found in the donor kidneys.”
More than 4,500 kidney patients died last year because no transplant organ was available, and 82,000 patients were on the waiting list for a kidney as of last month, according to the National Kidney Foundation.
Even so, the idea of transplanting kidneys needing to have cancerous masses removed takes getting used to, even for patients at very high risk. And this comes in an arena where there has been no shortage of debate over various attempts to increase the number of transplant organs. See our posts here and here to read more on that.
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