Recently released data build a strong case for allowing broader geographic distribution of donor livers, according to researchers at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center. The investigators based their conclusions on an analysis performed for the medical center by Pittsburgh-based CONSAD Research Corp. using data provided by the United Network for Organ Sharing. The analysis found that about one of every four liver transplant recipients in the United States between April 1994 and December 1995 traveled to another state to receive their transplant. "With so much movement of patients within the transplant system, it would only make sense for the donor livers to be allowed to follow the patients. Broader geographic sharing would save lives and equalize waiting times for patients throughout the country," said Mark Joensen, PhD, vice president of CONSAD. A press release issued by the medical center pointed out that, with the emphasis given to local distribution of donor livers, a less sick patient in one area of the country might be given preference over a dying patient in another geographic area.
"If you consider this analysis, it seems to me unconscionable that states and transplant programs would continue to think in such parochial terms by supporting a system that creates geographic boundaries around donated organs," said John Fung, MD, PhD, chief of the division of transplant surgery at the University of Pittsburgh’s Thomas E. Starzl Transplantation Institute. During the period of the analysis, 1280 of 5070 recipients of donor livers underwent transplants in states other than where they live. A total of 81% of Nebraska’s patients came from 29 states, and 64% of patients who live in New Jersey went to eight other states for transplants. Thirty-five states have liver transplant programs.
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University of Pittsburgh Medical Center:
http://www.upmc.edu/News/consad.htm
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