Audience
OPTN kidney paired donation (KPD) system users
At-a-glance
We have changed the KPD system to improve the way it prioritizes candidate-donor matches, especially for hard-to-match pairs. We have also provided a remedy for failed exchanges.
More details
These updates align with policy changes proposed by the OPTN Kidney Transplantation Committee and KPD Work Group and approved by the Board of Directors. The goals of the changes are to increase the number of matches in the OPTN KPD system and to increase transplants.
We made the following updates:
Priority Points: Changes are behind-the-scenes and are not visible to users.
- Updated priority points assigned to potential candidate and donor matches to reflect the changes listed in policy.
- Added points for candidate CPRA, candidate and paired donor ABO, and previous negative crossmatch between the candidate and matched donor and points for orphaned candidates.
- Decreased points assigned for 0 ABDR mismatch.
- Points for candidate and matched donor in same DSA and same region are no longer applied.
Remedy for failed exchanges: As part of this project, we addressed a potential situation for OPTN KPD candidates that may be part of a failed exchange. A failed exchange happens when a KPD candidate does not receive a transplant after their paired donor has donated. This candidate is known as an ‘orphan candidate’. This is a rare event and actually has not occurred in the OPTN KPD Pilot Program to date, but this remedy will be available if it does occur.
This change affects compliance with Policy 13.3.C.6 & 13.4.C.9 Informed Consent for KPD Candidates and Donors which states that the transplant hospital must document in the medical record that it has informed the paired candidate and donor of the remedy for failed KPD exchange. The donor & candidate informed consent reference document has updated language with an explanation of the remedy.
Information about orphan candidate status now displays on the candidate’s record, the message board screen and the match response screen.
Contact
If you have questions, contact UNOS Customer Service (UNet Help Desk) at 1-800-978-4334 or [email protected].
