Deceased Donor Program Research Articles

Mid-term Outcome of Donor Specific Antibody Positive Deceased Donor Kidney Transplantation with Peri-Transplant Desensitization

Donor specific HLA-antibodies (DSA) remain a large barrier to successful kidney transplantation and there is a limited knowledge about desensitization strategies in deceased donor programs. Anti HLA antibodies specificity in all wait-listed patients has been tested by Luminex since 2013 to tailor peri- and post-transplant immunosuppression. 100 deceased donor kidney transplant recipients with pre-transplant DSA >1000 MFI was included in this prospective observational study. Desensitization protocol consisted of plasma exchange (PE) prior to transplant and rATG (Thymoglobulin) induction along with IVIG 0.1-0.5 g/kg given at first week in patients with MFI ranging 1000-5000 (DSA+, n=69). This protocol was accompanied by post-transplant PE/PP and rituximab in patients with MFI>5000 MFI (DSA++, n=31). All patients had negative actual CDC crossmatch prior to pre-transplant PE. The 3-years transplant outcomes of two DSA-pos cohorts were analyzed and compared with 952 DSA-neg controls treated with anti-CD25 or rATG induction. All patients received TAC/MMF/St therapy. 1-year death-censored graft survival was similar in DSA-pos and DSA-neg groups (DSA+ 94.9%, DSA++ 92.3% and DSA- 94.8%) while at 3 years DSA-pos patients had inferior censored graft survival (DSA+ 83.1%, DSA++ 77.7%, DSA- 94.0%, p=0.05). The acute antibody mediated rejection (ABMR) incidence was 19% in DSA+ group while 42% in DSA++ group respectively (p<0.05). Univariate analysis showed higher PRA (p=0.01), HLA mismatch (p=0.016), longer dialysis (p=0.016), longer cold ischemia (p=0.008), male recipient gender (p=0.012), re-transplantation (p<0.001), DSA class II (p=0.018) and DQ/DP DSA (p=0.002) in DSA-pos patients who developed ABMR compared those who did not. The binary logistic regression with forward method identified two main significant predictors of ABMR: re-transplantation (OR: 0.08; 95% CI: 0.17-0.36; p=0.001) and HLA mismatch (OR: 1.63; 95% CI: 1.1-2.4; p=0.016). The model had 90.5 % specificity and 38.5% sensitivity to predict ABMR among DSA-pos patients. In conclusion, the peri-transplant desensitization represents a viable tool that enables successful kidney transplantation to patients with moderate or even with high level of sensitization in a country without the access to acceptable mismatch program.

Deceased Donor Organ Transplantation Potential

Organ transplantation is the gold standard for treating end-stage organ diseases, many of whom are on waiting lists. The reasons for this include the nonavailability of suitable organs to be transplanted. In many nations, most of these challenges have been surmounted by the adoption of deceased donor program, which is not so in sub-Saharan countries such as Nigeria. This study is to audit the potentially transplantable organs available from potential deceased donors from a Nigerian tertiary hospital. This is a study of deaths in the intensive care unit (ICU) and the accident and emergency units of the University of Ilorin Teaching Hospital, Nigeria. Data included the biodata, social history, diagnosis or indications for admission, time of arrival and death, causes of death, associated comorbidities, potential organs available, social history, and availability of relations at the time of death. There were 104 deaths in the ICU and 10 patients in the accident and emergency unit. There were 66 males (57.9%) and 48 females (42.1%). Eighty patients were Muslims (70.2%) and 34 were Christians (19.8%). A total of 33 participants were unmarried (28.9%),whereas 81 (71.1%) were married. The tribes of the patients were Yoruba (105, 92.1%), Igbo (7, 6.1%), Hausa (1, 0.9%), and Nupe (1, 0.9%). The age range was 0.08-85 years. Twenty-two (19.3%) had primary and the remaining had at least secondary education. The causes of death were myriad, and there were relatives available at the times of all deaths. The Maastricht classification of the deaths were Class I - 1 (0.9%), Class II - 37 (32.2%), Class III - 9 (7.8%), Class IV - 20 (17.4%), and Class V - 47(40.9%). There were no transplantable organs in 42 (36.5%), one organ in eight (7%), two organs in two (7%), three organs in one (0.9%), four organs in 13 (11.3%), five organs in six (5.2%), six organs in 11 (9.6%), seven organs in 11 (9.6%), eight organs in five (13%), and nine organs in five (4.3%). Deceased donor sources of organs are worthy of being exploited to improve organ transplantation in Nigeria.

Indications for renal transplantation in children: What a pediatrician should know ?

Renal transplantation is the best modality of treatment for end stage renal disease in children when compared to chronic dialysis. The growth, development and quality of life in these children are significantly better after transplantation. There has been a marked increase in the number of children undergoing renal transplantation in the recent years. The short term graft survival rates have increased with improved immunosuppression, but the long term outcome is still poor due to chronic graft rejection and opportunistic infections. In developing countries renal transplantation is not accessible to many children due to economic issues, lack of expertise and the absence of a strong deceased donor program. This article is a brief review of the indications and other aspects of pre-operative evaluation of pediatric renal transplant recipients.

Pediatric transplantation: An international perspective

Abdominal solid-organ transplantation has revolutionized the life of children with end-stage organ failure. The international practice of transplant in the pediatric population is heterogeneous. Global trends in pediatric transplant activity are increasing, with diffusion of transplant activities into developing and emerging economies. The organization of deceased donor programs varies internationally (with strong association to a country’s gross domestic product (GDP) per capita and health spending). While deceased donor programs are well established in advanced economies, emerging and developing countries rely heavily on living donor programs. There are efforts underway to increase availability of pediatric and neonatal donor organs. Prioritization of organs for children exists in different forms throughout the world. Pediatric transplantation as a subspecialty is young but growing around the world with a need to train surgeons and physicians in this discipline. Outreach efforts with multinational and multi-institutional partnerships have enabled resource poor countries to establish new transplant programs for children. Further international collaboration, good quality data collection and audit, prospective research and ongoing mentorship, and education are needed to further improve outcomes of all children receiving solid-organ transplants.

Five Years of Renal Transplantations in Montenegro: Results and Challenges

Abstract First renal transplantation in Montenegro was performed on September 25th, 2012. Since then, 32 transplantations have been performed. Only one was from deceased donor, the remaining were from living donors. 40.4% of all patients with end-stage renal disease currently live with the functioning renal allograft (190 patients on dialysis, 129 transplanted patients). There are 32 patients on the waiting list. Further efforts will be focused on development of the deceased donor program and introduction of the AB0 incompatible renal transplantations.

Pediatric renal transplant practices in India.

Limited access to tertiary-level health care, limited trained pediatric nephrologists and transplant physicians, lack of facilities for dialysis, lack of an effective deceased donor program, non-affordability, and non-adherence to immunosuppressant drugs poses a major challenge to universal availability of pediatric transplantation in developing countries. We present the results of a survey which, to the best of our knowledge, is the first such published attempt at understanding the current state of pediatric renal transplantation in India. A designed questionnaire formulated by a group of pediatric nephrologists with the aim of understanding the current practice of pediatric renal transplantation was circulated to all adult and pediatric nephrologists of the country. Of 26 adult nephrologists who responded, 16 (61.5%) were involved in pediatric transplantation, and 10 of 15 (66.6%) pediatric nephrologists were involved in pediatric transplantation. Most of the centers doing transplants were private/trust institution with only three government institutions undertaking it. Induction therapy was varied among pediatric and adult nephrologists. There were only a few centers (n=5) in the country routinely doing >5 transplants per year. Preemptive transplants and protocol biopsies were a rarity. The results demonstrate lower incidence of undertaking pediatric transplants in children below 6years, paucity of active cadaveric programs and lack of availability of trained pediatric nephrologists and staff. In contrast to these dissimilarities, the immunosuppressant use seems to be quite similar to Western registry data with majority favoring induction agent and triple immunosuppressant (steroid, mycophenolate mofetil and tacrolimus) for maintenance. The survey also identifies major concerns in availability of this service to all regions of India as well as to all economic segments.

A Single-center Experience of Kidney Transplantation from Donation after Circulatory Death: Challenges and Scope in India.

Donation after circulatory death (DCD) has never been attempted in India because of legal constraints and lack of guidelines for the withdrawal of life support in end-of-life situations. The present report describes the initial experience of transplantation of organs from DCD donors in a tertiary care center in India. Between 2011 and 2015, five donors had kidneys retrieved after cardiac arrest. These patients were declared dead after waiting for 5 min with no electrocardiographic signal on monitor following cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR), which was restarted in three patients till organ retrieval. All donors received heparin and underwent rapid cannulation of aorta, infusion of preservative cold solution, and immediate surface cooling of organs during retrieval surgery. 9/10 kidneys were utilized. Mean donor age was 29.6 ± 16.3 years, M:F 4:1 and mean age of recipients was 38.7 ± 10.8 years, M:F 7:2. Seven patients required dialysis in postoperative period. Mean postoperative day 0 urine output was 1.9 ± 2.6 L. Baseline creatinine achieved was 1.38 ± 0.35 mg/dl after a mean duration of 26.12 ± 15.4 days. Kidneys from donors where CPR was continued after the declaration of death (n = 3) had better recovery of renal function (time to reach baseline creatinine 21.2 ± 7.2 vs. 34.3 ± 23.7 days, baseline creatinine 1.36 ± 0.25 vs. 1.52 ± 0.45 mg%). In donors without CPR, one kidney never functioned and others had patchy cortical necrosis on protocol biopsy, which was not seen in the kidneys from donors with CPR. Kidneys from DCD donors can serve as a useful adjunct in deceased donor program. Continuing CPR after the declaration of death seems to help in improving outcomes.

Burden of end-stage kidney disease: North Africa.

Geographical, ecological, and genetic factors result in many similarities among the six main countries of the African Sahara, including the epidemiology of kidney disease. With an average incidence of 182 and prevalence of 522 patients with end-stage kidney disease (ESKD) per million population, North Africa (NA) spends $650 million on dialysis and transplantation despite an estimated annual loss of 600,000 life years. The health burden of ESKD is not limited to its directly-related morbidity and mortality but affects even more significantly other body systems, particularly the cardiovascular system. In addition, dialysis units are reservoirs for infectious agents, such as hepatitis-C (HCV) and -B (HBV) viruses, and methicillin-resistant staphylococci (MRSA), which threaten the health of the community. Shortage of financial resources eventually creates inequity of health care at large since only the rich are able to find their way around the limited public services. ESKD is no exception; inequity being even further augmented by the trade of organs, particularly in Egypt. This is attributed to high demand in the absence of a deceased donor program and in the presence of a pool of young, healthy, unemployed potential donors who have no access to any social security plans. Many attempts to face the challenge of accommodating ESKD management in NA are underway, including relevant legislations, promoting deceased donor transplants, chronic kidney disease (CKD) prevention and early detection programs, and generating nontraditionally directed financial resources.

Advances and challenges in renal transplantation in Latin America.

Latin America is a region made up of 33 countries that share many characteristics with each other. Since the first kidney transplant in Argentina in 1957, most of the Latin American countries have had a continuous increase in renal transplant activity, accounting for an increase in the total number of kidney transplants over time. In the last years, several advances have been made in the area of renal transplantation in Latin America: There are transplantation activities in almost all countries, the kidney transplantation rate from deceased donors has steadily increased, and almost all the countries have an appropriate legislation for transplantation activity. But much remains to be done to increase the kidney transplantation rate in order to cover the current demand. This could be achieved by ensuring unlimited access to renal transplantation, by improving deceased-donor programs to match the increasing burden of chronic diseases, and by incorporating new technology, new tools, and more trained people in transplant programs.

Paid Living Donation and Growth of Deceased Donor Programs.

Limited organ availability in all countries has stimulated discussion about incentives to increase donation. Since 1988, Iran has operated the only government-sponsored paid living donor (LD) kidney transplant program. This article reviews aspects of the Living Unrelated Donor program and development of deceased donation in Iran. Available evidence indicates that in the partially regulated Iranian Model, the direct negotiation between donors and recipients fosters direct monetary relationship with no safeguards against mutual exploitation. Brokers, the black market and transplant tourism exist, and the waiting list has not been eliminated. Through comparison between the large deceased donor program in Shiraz and other centers in Iran, this article explores the association between paid donation and the development of a deceased donor program. Shiraz progressively eliminated paid donor transplants such that by 2011, 85% of kidney transplants in Shiraz compared with 27% across the rest of Iran's other centers were from deceased donors. Among 26 centers, Shiraz undertakes the largest number of deceased donor kidney transplants, most liver transplants, and all pancreas transplants. In conclusion, although many patients with end stage renal disease have received transplants through the paid living donation, the Iranian Model now has serious flaws and is potentially inhibiting substantial growth in deceased donor organ transplants in Iran.

Establishing a deceased donor program in north Indian region: lessons learnt.

Living-related donors are the source of almost all organ transplants in India. However, these donations fall far short of current needs, and there remains a huge disparity between demand and supply of organs. In the last five yr, a consistent increase in deceased donor transplant activity has been observed in some southern Indian states. This report describes our experience of establishing a new deceased donor program in the state of Uttar Pradesh in north India. We describe our experience on counseling families of all brain-dead patients admitted to our center from October 2013 to September 2014 and data on retrieving and transplanting organs. A total of 99 brain-dead patients were identified, of which 67 were medically eligible as donors. Fourteen patients developed cardiac arrest before the counseling could begin. Only eight families agreed for multi-organ donation. Lack of consensus among the family members, mistrust of the medical system, fear of mutilation of the body, and delay in the funeral were identified as the main reasons behind negative consent. Conversely, mass media campaign, proper ICU care of brain-dead patients, rapport with the family and streamlining all medico legal processes were associated with positive consent.

Voluntary organ donation system adapted to Chinese cultural values and social reality.

Organ donation and transplant systems have unique characteristics based on the local culture and socioeconomic context. China's transplant and organ donation systems developed without regulatory oversight until 2006 when regulation and policy were developed and then implemented over the next several years. Most recently, the pilot project of establishing a voluntary citizen-based deceased donor program was established. The pilot program addressed the legal, financial, and cultural barriers to organ donation in China. The pilot program has evolved into a national program. Significantly, it established a uniquely Chinese donor classification system. The Chinese donor classification system recognizes donation after brain death (category I), donation after circulatory death (category II), and donation after brain death followed by circulatory death (category III). Through August 2014, the system has identified 2326 donors and provided 6416 organs that have been allocated though a transparent organ allocation system. The estimated number of donors in 2014 is 1147. As China's attitudes toward organ donation have matured and evolved and as China, as a nation, is taking its place on the world stage, it is recognizing that its past practice of using organs from executed prisoners is not sustainable. It is time to recognize that the efforts to regulate transplantation and provide voluntary citizen-based deceased organ donation have been successful and that China should use this system to provide organs for all transplants in every province and hospital in China. At the national organ transplant congress on October 30, 2014, the Chairman of the China's national organ donation and transplantation committee, Jeifu Huang required all hospitals to stop using organs from executed prisoners immediately and the civilian organ donation will be sole source for organ transplant in China starting January 2015.

Volumetry Guided Right Hepatectomy in The Presence of Hypolastic Left Lateral Segment in the LivingDonor.

Background: Variant anatomy often leads to exclusion of potential living donors. However, in Asia and India, there is near total reliance on living donation. We report the case of a successful living donor righthepatectomy in the presence of hypoplastic segments 2 &3. Method:A 42 year old male suffering fromcirrhosis, MELD 16, hepato-hydrothorax & ascites with SBP. was evaluated for Liver transplant. His brother,aged 32 years, volunteered to donate. On evaluation, his LAI(liver attenuation index) was +1 and Liver biopsyhad 15% macro-vesicular steatosis. After psychological, cardiac and pulmonology evaluation he was acceptedfor donation. His triphasic C T scan of liver & volumetry showed a congenitally small left lateral segment (Wholeliver 1107 ml; Segment 2&3 81 ml). Routine transection plane through the Middle Hepatic Vein (MHV) yielded aright graft of 840 ml {GRWR(Graft to Recipient Weight Ratio) =1.1} and RLV(Remnant Liver Volume) 267ml(24%)precluding safe donor hepatectomy. Since the left liver was mainly constituted by Segment 4, thehepatectomy plane was modified according to portal vein supply and leaving MHV in the donor to prevent anycongestion in Segment 4. The new plane yielded right graft volume of 750 ml and RLV 357 ml (32.2%). After extensive counseling and authorization committee approval, transplant was done. The recipient operation wasdelayed till the donor hilar dissection ensured that the transection plane matched the preoperative plan.Results:The donor hepatectomy was uneventful (blood loss 500 ml; no transfusion). The donor made anuneventful recovery and was discharged on POD 7. The retrieved graft was 720 grams (GRWR= 0.940).Therecipient had a smooth post -operative course. Follow up donor C T at 3 months showed increase in Left livervolume to 902 ml (RLV 357); segment 4 from 276 to 633 ml and seg 2&3 from 81 to 269 ml.C onclusion: In theabsence of a viable deceased donor program, predominantly living donor centers will be forced to acceptdonors with variant anatomy. Preoperative planning and use of imaging and volumetry to guide hepatectomy can allow retrieval of grafts from these donors without increasing the risk.

Successful three-way kidney paired donation transplantation: The first Indian report

Providing transplantation opportunities for patients with incompatible live donors through kidney paired donation (KPD) is an important strategy for easing the crisis in organ availability. KPD is can overcome the barriers when the only living potential donors are deemed unsuitable owing to an incompatibility of blood type, of human leukocyte antigen cross-match, or both. In KPD, the incompatibility problems with two donor recipient pairs can be solved by exchanging donors. In the absence of well-organized deceased donor program, or transplantation with desensitization protocol and ABO incompatible transplantation, living donor KPD promises hope to the growing number of patients suffering from end-stage renal disease in India. We report our first successful three-way KPD transplantation from India. In an era of organ shortage, this approach is relevant to encourage wider participation from KPD donors and transplant centers to prevent commercial transplantation.

Evolution of deceased-donor transplantation in India with decline of commercial transplantation: a lesson for developing countries

The positive impact of a structured deceased-donor program has resulted in a reduction in the number of commercial transplantation operations taking place in India. The engagement of private and government stakeholders has revealed the positive impact of deceased organ donation in India. The best example is the Tamil Nadu state model, where deceased donations have increased to 1.2 per million population compared to the national average of 0.08 per million population. In the last 30 months 994 organs were transplanted. The donation and transplantation in the Government-run hospitals have provided organs to the poor sections of the society free of cost. Immunological surveillance of the prospective recipients remains a challenge, as there is a paucity of immunological laboratories in transplant centers. Generic immunosuppressive drugs manufactured by the local pharmaceutical industry have been shown to be noninferior, and have greatly reduced the cost of achieving immunosuppression.

Pediatric versus adult kidney transplantation activity in Arab countries

The objective of this study was to evaluate the current activity of pediatric versus adult kidney transplantation activity in the Arab world. A questionnaire was mailed to all kidney transplant centers in Arab countries to collect data on the kidney transplant activity in a recent single year. Three thousand three hundred and nine kidney transplants were performed in one year, with a transplant rate of 9.5 per million populations (PMP); 298 were performed for children with a pediatric kidney transplant (PKT) rate of 0.87 PMP, which is much lower than that of developed countries where it mostly ranges from 5 to 10. The pediatric share of all transplants is 9%, which is twice as high as that of European children. Kidney transplant programs in most Arab countries rely exclusively on living donors as there is a severe shortage of deceased donors. 93.5% of all transplants, combined adult and pediatric, were from living donors. Deceased transplant activity in Arab countries accounts for 14-31% of all transplants in the three countries with deceased donor programs. Of the 212 adult and pediatric transplants that were performed from deceased donors in eight countries, only 29 cases were for pediatric recipients. Deceased PKT is available in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), Tunisia and Kuwait. Surprisingly, the PKT share was not better in the countries with higher overall kidney transplant rate and or in those where deceased transplant was available. PKT is still inactive in most Arab countries and mostly relies on living donors. The lack of well-developed deceased donor programs is the main issue to be addressed.

To Donate a Kidney: Public Perspectives from Pakistan

Despite the majority opinion of Muslim jurists that organ donation is permitted in Sharia, surveys indicate continuing resistance by lay Muslims, especially to donating organs following death. Pakistan, a country with 165 million Muslims, currently reliant on live donors, is considering steps to establish deceased donor programs which will require public acceptance and support. This article analyzes the results of in-depth interviews with 105 members of the public focusing on opinions and knowledge about juristic rulings regarding kidney donations, donor-family dynamics in deceased donation decisions, and attitudes towards buying kidneys. The objective was to determine the influence if any of cultural and religious values, and norms of traditional family structures and kinships, on decisions to donate. Study participants view donation of kidneys, particularly from the deceased, through a different lens from that used by jurists and physicians, one that also does not conform to familiar paradigms defining ethical organ donation. A socially modulated understanding of Islam passed down the generations, and longstanding family-centric norms, shape the moral worldview of many rather than academic juristic rulings or non-contextual concepts of autonomy and rights. The results of this study also highlight that medical science may be universal but its application occurs within particularities of cultural and religious values, social constructs of the self and its relationship with others, and different ways in which humans comprehend illness, suffering, and death. These findings are of relevance both to transplant related professionals and bioethicists involved with this field.

Pakistan and kidney trade: battles won, battles to come

This essay provides a brief overview of the rise of organ trade in Pakistan towards the end of the last century and the concerted, collective struggle--of physicians and medical associations aided by the media, journalists, members of civil society, and senior judiciary--in pressuring the government to bring about and implement a national law criminalizing such practices opposed by an influential pro-organ trade lobby. It argues that among the most effective measures to prevent re-emergence of organ trafficking in the country is increasing ethical live donations and above all, establishing sustainable, public supported deceased donor programs. To do this, the transplant community must recognize that organ transplantation is not merely a donor-recipient-physician transaction but a complex issue in which decisions to donate an organ are influenced by indigenous values and belief systems about human illness, life and death.

O contexto do transplante renal no Brasil e sua disparidade geográfica

The Brazilian National Transplantation System coordinates and regulates perhaps the largest public transplantation program worldwide. Since its implementation in 1997, the number of kidney transplantations increased from 920 (5.8 pmp) in 1998, to 4,630 (24.1 pmp) in 2010. This growth was primarily due to the increased number of effective donors (from 1.8 pmp in 1998 to 9.3 pmp in 2010), with a corresponding increased number of kidneys transplanted from deceased donors (3.8 pmp in 1999 versus 9.9 pmp in 2010).The number of kidney transplantations from living donors has not increased significantly, from 1,065 (6.7 pmp) in 1998 to 1,641 (8.6 pmp) in 2010, either as a consequence of the observed increase in the deceased donor program or perhaps because of strict government regulations allowing only transplantations from related donors. From 2000 to 2009, the mean age of living donors increased from 40 to 45 years, while it increased from 33 to 41 years for deceased donors, of whom roughly 50% die of stroke. There are clear regional disparities in transplantation performance across the national regions. While the state of São Paulo is ranked first in organ donation and recovery (22.5 pmp), some states of the Northern region have much poorer performances. These disparities are directly related to different regional population densities, gross domestic product distribution, and number of trained transplantation physicians. The initial evaluation of the centers with robust outcomes indicates no clear differences in graft survival in comparison with centers in the USA and Europe. Ethnicity and time on dialysis, but not the type of immunosuppressive regimen, decisively influence the measured outcomes. Since the implementation of national clinical research regulations in 1996, Brazilian centers have participated in a number of national and international collaborative trials for the development of immunosuppressive regimens. Besides the challenge of reducing the regional disparities related to access to transplantation, further improvements can be obtained by the creation of a national registry of the outcomes of transplanted patients and living donors, and also by the promotion of clinical and experimental studies to better understand the transplantation-related immune response of the Brazilian population.

A Comparative Study of the Traditional Method, and a Point-Score System for Allocation of Deceased-Donor Kidneys: A National Multicenter Study in Mexico

Background The National Transplant Center in Mexico has ruled that deceased-donor kidney allocation is a function of each hospital's Internal Transplant Committee. The aim of this study was to compare and analyze results for of the traditional method and a point-score system in the allocation of deceased patient's kidneys. Methods The 12 major kidney transplant centers in the country having a deceased-donor program were invited to participate. Only 3 of them replied to the invitation during 2010. A point-score system was proposed to them, comprising blood group, waiting list time, HLA type, and donor and recipient ages. Once the final recipient was chosen, an explanation of reasons for the choice was requested. Thirty-eight transplants were presented. Kappa coefficient was used to measure degree of agreement in both allocation systems. Organs donated for transplantation came from patients between 4 and 54 years old, including 52% female, 52% O+ blood type, 31% A+, and 11% B+, 44% cranial-encephalic trauma, and 44% brain hemorrhage. Results Global agreement was 52.6% (kappa = 0.343), and partial agreement was 76.3% (weighted kappa = 0.204), assigning more intensity to extreme values, but with a lower correlation index. A more intense agreement, without discriminating by hospital, was found for “A” category (blood group), followed by “B” category (waiting list time). Discussion Taking into consideration the determining factors for long-term graft survival, it is indispensable to include criteria such as donor and recipient ages and HLA typife in the allocation process. This first draft of a point-score system in organ allocation included waiting list time, blood group, urgency related to vascular/peritoneal access for dialysis, clinical condition, donor/recipient age ratio, and HLA antigenic compatibility.