Living kidney donations encouraged

Tuesday, 31 May 2005 12:00 AM

A new Government-backed campaign is to seek to encourage family and friends to consider donating a living kidney.

A kidney from a living donor is considered more beneficial to the recipient than one from a dead person.

A total of 93 per cent of kidneys from a living donor survive at least a year after surgery, compared with 87 per cent derived from a dead person.

And after five years, 84 per cent are still going from live donors compared with 73 per cent for organs from the dead.

Sue Sutherland of UK Transplant - the NHS body overseeing transplants - said the success rates of living kidney transplants compared to "cadaveric donations" were hugely impressive.

"Increasing the education of patients and their families and friends about living kidney transplant as an option is an imperative if we are to increase the number of people who can benefit from a successful transplant."

It is estimated more than 6,000 people in Britain need a kidney transplant but there is a severe shortage of donor organs.

Since April last year, nearly 2000 kidney transplants have been conducted, with a quarter from live donors.

Experts say the UK lags behind other countries such as the US and Scandinavia in the giving of living donors to transplants.

In those countries up to 40 per cent of all kidney transplants involve living donors.

Health Minister Rosie Winterton said the number of patients requiring a transplant had "increased dramatically" in recent years, and as such it was essential the government looked at all the paths to hand, including living kidney transplantation.

Experts said a patient on dialysis cost the NHS about £35,000 a year, while transplanting a kidney cost £20,000 in the first year and £46,000 over five years.

The scheme is to be piloted at two dialysis units - the Royal Preston hospital in Lancashire and New Cross hospital in Wolverhampton.

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