Anonymous donor triggers chain of five kidney transplants at three hospitals
MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. 07/23/2010--An anonymous kidney donor began a sequence of ten surgeries, resulting in five people in two states receiving kidney transplants.
The transplant chain included two surgeries at Sanford Health Medical Center in Fargo, four at Abbott Northwestern Hospital in Minneapolis and four at University of Minnesota Medical Center, Fairview, in Minneapolis.
This rare chain of surgeries was made possible by unique programs at the transplant centers. The non-directed donor program allows individuals who meet strict criteria to donate a kidney, anonymously, to the most compatible recipient on the waiting list. The paired exchange kidney donation program allows a potential recipient with a willing, but incompatible, donor to be placed in a "pool" with other incompatible donors and potential recipients. The end result is that the donor agrees to give a kidney if a match is found for his or her partner.
In this case, a non-directed donor in Minneapolis was a match for a potential recipient in Fargo in the paired exchange pool. The Minneapolis kidney was flown to Fargo. Two surgeries later, a kidney from Fargo was driven to Minneapolis, extending the chain with four more transplants at Abbott Northwestern Hospital and University of Minnesota Medical Center, Fairview.
In total, ten people produced five successful kidney transplants.
Non-directed donation is anonymous. For that reason, the patients involved in these transplants are not identified.
More about Abbott Northwestern Hospital
Abbott Northwestern Hospital is part of Allina Hospitals & Clinics, a not-for-profit health care system of hospitals, clinics and other patient care services that provides exceptional care to communities throughout Minnesota and western Wisconsin and employs more than 22,000 people. # # #
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