The National Kidney Registry announced the successful completion of its 8,000th living kidney donor transplant, a zero-eplet mismatch that took place with a donor from Mayo Clinic Rochester and a recipient at Hartford Hospital. This milestone represents the most transplants in the world facilitated by a single kidney paired donation registry.
The National Kidney Registry now facilitates 22% of all living donor transplants in the United States, up from 20% in 2022. The NKR facilitates over 1,000 living donor transplants annually, including voucher donations, paired exchange, remote direct, Kidney for Life, NKR internal direct, microsite internal direct, and waitlist patient transplants.
The NKR facilitated its first living donor kidney transplant in 2008 and is projected to facilitate over 1,300 transplants in 2023. This growth is driven by the increase in microsites, which give kidney patients free coaching and a free customized website to help them search for a living kidney donor; Donor Connect, a free service that lets potential donors speak to a living kidney donor; and Donor Shield, a comprehensive suite of support and protections for living donors that offers up to $18,000 in reimbursement per living donor for lost wages, travel, and dependent care costs.
“The NKR is thrilled to have reached 8,000 living kidney transplants facilitated,” said Mike Lollo, NKR Chief Strategy Officer. “This unprecedented benchmark is a testament to the NKR’s commitment to increasing the number and quality of living donor transplants nationwide.”
NKR outcomes also continue to improve—the NKR 3-year death censored graft failure rate is now 14% lower than all other U.S. living donor kidney transplants. These recent outcome improvements are partially driven by a significant increase in low eplet mismatch transplants, occurring even as the NKR continues to transplant a higher percentage of the most difficult cases.
About the National Kidney Registry
The National Kidney Registry (www.kidneyregistry.org) is an organization whose mission is to save and improve the lives of people facing kidney failure by increasing the quality, speed, and number of living donor transplants while protecting all living donors.
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