Exchanging Donor Kidneys

Publisher Website
Google Scholar
Abstract
To the Editor: Opelz reported that matching of the HLA-A, -B, and -DR antigens of donors and recipients of cadaveric renal allografts had a beneficial effect on allograft survival in cyclosporine-treated recipients (May 19 issue),1 in contradistinction to the lack of effect observed in previous single-center and multicenter reports.1 2 3 4 The federally chartered National Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network, the United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS), currently mandates allocation of cadaver kidneys to recipients who share six HLA antigens with the donor. This policy seeks not only to maximize kidney-graft survival — a premise that is controversial — but also "to . . .