There are over 150,000 people in the United States living full and active lives with transplanted kidneys. Kidney transplants are truly a miracle of modern medicine. If you are facing kidney failure and are medically qualified for a transplant, we want you to have the miracle of a kidney transplant. We have even written a book for you called Finding a Kidney that will help you navigate this complex process. You can download the book by clicking HERE or you can buy it on Amazon.com. The National Kidney Registry is committed to helping you get a transplant - If you have an incompatible donor or a poorly matched donor - you have come to the right place. We can help you.
The first thing that you need to know is that living donor transplants have vastly superior outcomes. The chart below shows that living donor transplants last nearly twice as long as deceased donor transplants.
The second thing you need to know is that time matters. The faster you can get a transplant, the better the transplant outcome (see chart below). The best case scenario is to get a transplant before you ever go on dialysis. This is called a pre-emptive transplant and is correlated with significantly higher graft survival rates). If you are not able to get a pre-emptive transplant, time still matters so move fast to get the transplant done as soon as possible.
If you have an incompatible or poorly matched living donor, the National Kidney Registry will give you the best chance of finding a well matched donor. The National Kidney Registry member centers include the majority of the top transplant hospitals in the United States. Additionally, the National Kidney Registry has facilitated more exchange transplants than any other program in the world. In fact, the National Kidney Registry has facilitated more exchange transplants than all the other U.S. based exchange programs combined. Below is a chart that compares the National Kidney Registry average wait times to those of other exchange systems.
In addition to reducing the time to get a transplant, the quality of the match may impact your transplant outcome. This is especially important for:
Why is it relevant? Because these types of incompatible pairs can generally be matched in the Registry in a week or two with donors that are highly compatible on dimensions such as age, HLA and size. The Registry allows patients to set preferences that will guide the matching process so that you get the best match possible. Member centers utilize powerful software such as the "Toolbox" and the "Swap Expert".
The Swap Expert Patient Advisory is a customized report provided by our member centers that shows you how many donors in the pool are matching you and all the things you and your transplant team can do to improve you chances of getting a match quickly and/or improving the quality of the match. Once you are enrolled in the Registry, you should ask your transplant center for your customized Swap Expert Patient Advisory to see how many donors are matching you and your expected wait time for a paired exchange transplant.
Registry Member Centers can help you get the best match possible through an Exchange by utilizing the Toolbox and Swap Expert software hosted by the Registry. Below are charts that show the impact of donor age, antigen matching and donor/recipient weight ratio on transplant outcomes.
A compatible pairs is a donor and recipient that are biologically compatible. In many cases they may be poorly compatible and want to find a better match through a paired exchange so that the transplanted kidney lasts longer and functions better. Additionally, many compatible pairs participate in paired exchange to help as many other patients as possible get transplanted. The best compatible pair candidates for inclusion in a paired exchange are unsensitized or lightly sensitized patients with "O" blood type donors. Below is a chart that shows the enormous impact compatible pairs have when they are included in Registry match runs.
The CHIP program helps patients without donors who are either children or are disadvantaged because they are sensitized. Member centers that evaluate Good Samaritan donors and start have the ability to end chains at their centers and get patients transplanted who do not have a living donor. Below is the CHIP program description.
The next step is to have one of the Registry Member Centers below contact you so that you can enroll in the Registry.
| Center Name | City | Average Exchange Wait Time (months) |
Transplants Facilitated In Past 12 Months |
Unmatched Pairs | Total Transplants | % Of Pairs Transplanted |
CHIP Patients Transplanted |
Contact |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| California - US | ||||||||
| St. Joseph Hospital CA | Orange | N/A | 0 | 0 | 0 | - | 0 | Contact |
| St. Vincent Medical Center CA | Los Angeles | N/A | 0 | 0 | 0 | - | 0 | Contact |
| Keck Medical Center of USC | Los Angeles | N/A | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0% | 0 | Contact |
| Lucile Packard at Stanford | Palo Alto | N/A | 0 | 0 | 0 | - | 0 | Contact |
| Sharp Memorial Hospital | San Diego | 3 | 8 | 2 | 13 | 87% | 3 | Contact |
| UC Davis Medical Center | Sacramento | 6 | 12 | 6 | 16 | 73% | 1 | Contact |
| UCSF Medical Center | San Francisco | 8 | 16 | 10 | 34 | 77% | 5 | Contact |
| Riverside Community Hospital | Riverside | 12 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 50% | 1 | Contact |
| California Pacific Medical Center | San Francisco | 12 | 5 | 5 | 18 | 78% | 0 | Contact |
| UCLA Medical Center | Los Angeles | 14 | 17 | 20 | 59 | 75% | 1 | Contact |
| Loma Linda Medical Center | Loma Linda | 36 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 25% | 0 | Contact |
| Stanford University Medical Center | Palo Alto | 84 | 1 | 7 | 9 | 56% | 0 | Contact |
| Delaware - US | ||||||||
| Christiana Care Health System | Newark | N/A | 0 | 1 | 1 | 50% | 0 | Contact |
| Florida - US | ||||||||
| Tampa General Hospital | Tampa | 5 | 5 | 2 | 5 | 71% | 1 | Contact |
| Illinois - US | ||||||||
| University of Illinois MC | Chicago | N/A | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0% | 0 | Contact |
| Rush University Medical Center | Chicago | N/A | 0 | 4 | 0 | 0% | 0 | Contact |
| University of Chicago Medical Center | Chicago | 0 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 100% | 1 | Contact |
| Loyola University Medical Center | Maywood | 2 | 5 | 1 | 17 | 94% | 10 | Contact |
| Indiana - US | ||||||||
| Indiana University Health Transplant | Indianapolis | N/A | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0% | 0 | Contact |
| Maryland - US | ||||||||
| Walter Reed National Military Medical Center | Bethesda | N/A | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0% | 0 | Contact |
| University of Maryland Medical Center | Baltimore | N/A | 0 | 13 | 2 | 13% | 0 | Contact |
| Massachusetts - US | ||||||||
| Brigham and Women's Hospital | Boston | N/A | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0% | 0 | Contact |
| Massachusetts General Hospital | Boston | 12 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 50% | 0 | Contact |
| Missouri - US | ||||||||
| Barnes-Jewish Hospital | St. Louis | 32 | 3 | 8 | 4 | 33% | 0 | Contact |
| New Jersey - US | ||||||||
| Newark Beth Israel Medical Center | Newark | N/A | 0 | 2 | 5 | 71% | 0 | Contact |
| Our Lady of Lourdes | Haddon Heights | N/A | 0 | 1 | 3 | 75% | 0 | Contact |
| Robert Wood Johnson | New Brunswick | 12 | 3 | 3 | 5 | 63% | 0 | Contact |
| Saint Barnabas Medical Center | Livingston | 16 | 10 | 13 | 26 | 67% | 1 | Contact |
| Hackensack University Medical Center | Hackensack | 24 | 1 | 2 | 4 | 67% | 0 | Contact |
| New York - US | ||||||||
| St. Luke's Transplant Center | New York | N/A | 0 | 0 | 0 | - | 0 | Contact |
| New-York Presbyterian Columbia | New York | 0 | 2 | 0 | 5 | 100% | 0 | Contact |
| Mount Sinai Medical Center | New York | 3 | 4 | 1 | 7 | 88% | 1 | Contact |
| NewYork-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell | New York | 9 | 21 | 16 | 63 | 80% | 9 | Contact |
| Montefiore Medical Center | Bronx | 12 | 2 | 2 | 7 | 78% | 0 | Contact |
| Ohio - US | ||||||||
| Ohio State University Medical Center | Columbus | 0 | 2 | 0 | 3 | 100% | 0 | Contact |
| Cleveland Clinic | Cleveland | 24 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 33% | 0 | Contact |
| Pennsylvania - US | ||||||||
| Lankenau Hospital | Wynnewood | N/A | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0% | 0 | Contact |
| University of Pennsylvania Hospital | Philadelphia | 4 | 3 | 1 | 3 | 75% | 2 | Contact |
| Thomas Jefferson University Hospital | Philadelphia | 8 | 3 | 2 | 3 | 60% | 0 | Contact |
| Pinnacle Health Systems | Harrisburg | 10 | 6 | 5 | 13 | 72% | 3 | Contact |
| Allegheny General Hospital | Pittsburgh | 10 | 6 | 5 | 14 | 74% | 0 | Contact |
| Starzl Transplantation Institute/U Pittsburg | Pittsburgh | 36 | 4 | 12 | 4 | 25% | 0 | Contact |
| South Carolina - US | ||||||||
| Medical University of S Carolina | Charleston | N/A | 0 | 0 | 0 | - | 0 | Contact |
| Tennessee - US | ||||||||
| Methodist University Hospital Tenn | Memphis | 24 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 33% | 0 | Contact |
| Texas - US | ||||||||
| Methodist Hospital, Houston | Houston | 0 | 3 | 0 | 7 | 100% | 0 | Contact |
| Utah - US | ||||||||
| University of Utah Medical Center | Salt Lake City | 8 | 3 | 2 | 7 | 78% | 0 | Contact |
| Intermountain Medical Center | Murray | 12 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 50% | 0 | Contact |
| Vermont - US | ||||||||
| Fletcher Allen Health Care | Burlington | N/A | 0 | 1 | 1 | 50% | 0 | Contact |
| Victoria - AU | ||||||||
| Royal Melbourne Hospital | Victoria | N/A | 0 | 0 | 0 | - | 0 | Contact |
| Virginia - US | ||||||||
| Virginia Transplant Center | Richmond | 6 | 6 | 3 | 8 | 73% | 0 | Contact |
| Sentara Norfolk General Hospital | Norfolk | 12 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 50% | 0 | Contact |
| Washington - US | ||||||||
| Seattle Children's Hospital | Seattle | N/A | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0% | 0 | Contact |
| University of Washington Medical Center | Seattle | 24 | 1 | 2 | 4 | 67% | 0 | Contact |
| Wisconsin - US | ||||||||
| University of Wisconsin, Madison | Madison | 10 | 16 | 13 | 16 | 55% | 6 | Contact |
| Inactive Centers | -- | 0 | 1 | 0 | 6 | 0% | 0 | |
| TOTALS: | 14 | 180 | 188 | 403 | 0% | 45 | ||