Potential pool of non-heart-beating kidney donors in Taiwan: Chart review in a regional hospital

The annual number of renal transplantations performed in Taiwan is strictly limited by the availability of donor organs. One way to expand the donor pool is the use of non-heart-beating (NHB) donors. This study evaluated the potential number of NHB kidney-donors in Taiwan using a retrospective death chart review from a regional hospital in patients who died between January 1 and December 31, 1999. Exclusion criteria were extremities of age, systemic infection, malignancies other than primary brain tumor, uncontrolled diabetes mellitus, hypertension, kidney disease, or deaths with incomplete records. Detailed biomedical data of potential donors were collected. Of the 840 in-hospital deaths, 258 were in patients aged 3 to 65 years. Among these patients, 52 (6%) did not meet any exclusion criteria and were classified as potential kidney donors. Of these 52 patients, eight (1%) were classified as very suitable donors, defined as no diabetes mellitus, no hypertension, good renal function (serum creatinine < 1.3 mg/dL), age less than 50 years, and death in the intensive care unit or emergency service. Twenty-five of the remaining 44 sub-optimal potential donors who did not meet the criteria of very suitable were classified as having high potential to be donors by a combined scoring system (sum score = 5-6). The results suggest that there is a considerable number of potential NHB kidney-donors in Taiwan. Programs to advocate use of NHB kidney donors and education of the public and transplant professionals might significantly increase the number of kidneys available for transplantation in Taiwan.