Kidney Donation and Renal Availability:

¶ … kidney donation and renal availability: A utilization of literature review in nursing research

Living donors are clearly superior and more desirable for kidney transplantation for a variety of reasons, and though there are some medical and ethical concerns with living donor renal transplantation new innovations can greatly reduce risks to living donors (Nakamura et al. 2008; Testa et al. 2009). There have also been enormous gains in the rates of living donors worldwide, largely as a response to educational campaigns aimed at informing the public of the need for donation and the increasing ease of the surgery on donors (Mayor 2009; Horvat et al. 2009).

This easement on post-surgery recovery and life for living kidney donors is the result of several new techniques and schemas, including newer minimally invasive procedures and methods for kidney removal during other surgical procedures (Nakamura et al. 2008; Testa et al. 2009). Both of these innovations, should they be made more widely known both in the medical community and amidst the general public, could greatly increase the number of living donors willing to donate kidneys to both known and unknown recipients. The success of traditional education efforts on increasing living donor donations will likely increase further with the addition of more contemporary information.

Though other methods for encouraging donation exist, including legal sales and forced cadaver donation, increasing living donation is the most medically and ethically sound and successful option available (Horvat et al. 2009; Testa et al. 2009). Focusing efforts on increased education is definitely called for.

Annotated Bibliography

Horvat, L.; Shariff, S.; Garg, A. (2009). "Global trends in the rates of living kidney donation." Kidney international 75, pp. 1088-98.

The rate of living kidney donors has increased by as much as fifty percent in many countries over the past decade, to the point that living donors (to both known and unknown recipients) now account for thirty-nine percent of kidney transplants for which current records are available. This suggests that efforts to increase living donorship over the past decade have been highly effective, and that the importance of living donors in combating the rising trend of end-stage renal failure that is appearing in the worldwide population. While other methods and plans are also being explored, the increase in living donors has had the most significant impact on renal transplantation rates in the past decade.

Mayor, S. (2009). "UK sees rise in people donating a kidney to unknown recipients." British medical journal 338(7710), pp. 1521.

In this brief yet highly relevant article, the author describes a recently observed trend of increasing live-donor kidney donations for unknown recipients. Though living donors for family members with a need for transplant have been relatively common for sometime, the idea of donating a kidney while still living for a person unknown to the donor is a very recent development in kidney translation and availability. Though the reasons for this increase are not yet clear, as no research has been undertaken to determine the causal effect of this observed trend, initial results suggest that simple awareness of the need for renal donation and the normalcy of life following the donation of a kidney is a major factor.

Nakamura, Y.; Konno, O.; Matsuno, N.; Yokoyama, T., et al. (2008). "How can we increase living related donor renal transplantations?" Transplantation proceedings 40(7), pp. 2104-7.

Though various methods and schema for renal transplantation exist, this study points out the benefits of living donor donation in the combating of end-stage renal failure, in Japan specifically. Citing a decreased need for recipient medication and an increased likelihood of successful transplantation when kidneys used in transplantation come from living donors, the authors of this study examine various methods for increasing rates of living donorship. A new surgical procedure developed by the authors limits the invasiveness and the blood loss in an elective living donor surgery, and combined with higher donorship rates could greatly increase the successful treatment of renal disease.