U Frei, J Noeldeke, V Machold-Fabrizii, H Arbogast, R Margreiter, L Fricke, A Voiculescu, V Kliem, H Ebel, U Albert, K Lopau, P Schnuelle, B Nonnast-Daniel, F Pietruck, R Offermann, G Persijn, C Bernasconi
Renal transplantation faces challenges: the organ shortage resulting in extended waiting times and an aging population resulting in death with a functioning graft. The Eurotransplant Senior Program (ESP) allocates kidneys within a narrow geographic area from donors aged >/=65 years to recipients >/=65 years regardless of HLA. This analysis investigates the impact of the ESP on waiting time, graft and patient survival. The ESP group (n = 1406, old to old) was compared to two groups allocated via the Eurotransplant Kidney Allocation System (ETKAS) with either similar donor age (old to any [O/A], donor age >/=65, n = 446) or recipient age (any to old, [A/O], recipient age 60-64, n = 1687)...
January 2008: American Journal of Transplantation