First paired kidney donation registry unveiled

Star Hospitals has achieved remarkable success in performing the first paired registry (swap) kidney transplants and ABO incompatible kidney transplants, revolutionising the landscape of organ transplantation. Kidney swap transplants involve exchanging kidneys among incompatible donor-recipient pairs, facilitating life-saving matches that might otherwise be unattainable.
Dr. Gandhe Sridhar, Senior Consultant – Nephrologist & Transplant Physician, stated, “The kidney paired donation registry is a paradigm shift in Kidney transplantation. It places the power in the hands of those in need, allowing them to actively engage in finding a suitable match. This initiative has the potential to revolutionise the way we approach kidney transplants in India.”
As per the National Organ & Tissue Transplant Act only family donors can donate the kidney to their relatives. Inspite of some situation where donors are available within the family but their blood groups are not matching this is the reason for 40% of the donor rejections. For this set of patients, the available option is ABO incompatible kidney transplant & paired (swap) kidney exchange.
With paired (Swap) kidney exchange we can increase the donor poll from 5% to 40%. But, now in India only few numbers of paired (Swap) kidney exchange are going on compared to western population or other developed countries where 30% to 40% of transplants are because of paired (swap) kidney exchange.