Compatible Share Program
What is Compatible Share?
Our Renal and Pancreas Transplant Division is the first program in New Jersey and among a few in the country to offer patients participation in its award-winning Compatible Share Program – the latest exciting addition to its comprehensive Living Donor Institute. An innovation in the delivery of living donor transplantation, it is designed to help more people receive life-saving kidney transplants.
Through Compatible Share, a compatible donor/recipient pair may be offered the opportunity to participate in a kidney exchange. Therefore, to understand Compatible Share, it’s important to first explain the Living Donor Kidney Exchange Program. Many individuals have willing kidney donors that are incompatible due to blood type or cross-matching. These pairs enter the Living Donor Kidney Exchange Program which involves the matching and exchange of kidneys between incompatible donor/recipient pairs so that all recipients receive a compatible transplant. Many incompatible pairs wait long periods of time for compatible matches because of a lack of ‘O’ blood type donors. (See chart below)
Some compatible pairs are deemed favorable for the Compatible Share Program because the donor is blood type ‘O’ and the recipient is blood type ‘A’, ‘B’, or ‘AB’. This allows the compatible pair to exchange with one or more incompatible pairs and results in each recipient receiving a compatible transplant.
Why Choose Compatible Share?
- An opportunity to improve the recipient’s long-term outcome. For example, the recipient would have the option to receive a younger donor kidney and/or an improved compatibility match.
- An opportunity for a compatible pair to help more people receive a kidney transplant who otherwise may continue to wait for an extended period of time.
It is important to note that the timing of the transplant is not delayed by participation in the Compatible Share Program. Transplantation can be scheduled at the preferred timing of the compatible pair. This may vary depending on the preferences chosen by the compatible pair and will be discussed on an individual basis.
Matched donor/recipient pairs must meet the same medical, psychosocial and ethical selection criteria used for standard living donor transplants. All pairs remain anonymous to each other prior to transplantation. For those interested in the Compatible Share Program, an educational session for the donor and recipient will be arranged with a Physician or Nurse Practitioner.