Kidney paired donation: State of the science and practice

PURPOSE OF REVIEW: The aim of this article is to review all publications regarding kidney paired donation published over the past 2 years and in doing so provide an evaluation of the current state of development of the field. RECENT FINDINGS: A few large multicenter paired donation consortia have been developed, and using computer-based matching algorithms have entered significant numbers of donor-recipient pairs (although no program to date has conducted computer match runs with over 75 donor-recipient pairs). In addition, significant progress has been made in developing innovative matching strategies and in modeling potential results of paired donation programs. Despite these advances, these programs have only scratched the surface of the estimated potential of paired donation programs to increase living kidney donation. The greatest effects on increasing volume can be made by increasing donor/recipient identification and enrolment. SUMMARY: Significant advances have been made in clinical experience and technological development of paired donation programs. Technical advances have occurred, however, at a more rapid pace than clinical advances in paired donation. Significant work with respect to ethical and educational foundations needs to be accomplished to close this gap.