NN&I - June 2010

Transplant Update Subscribe to our free eNewsletter at www.nephronline.comJune 2010 Nephrology News & Issues 27Responding to a drop in U.S. living kidney donors, the National Kidney Foundation has launched a new coun-cil to help raise awareness of donation."Our goal is to remove the barri-ers to living donation that currently exist, improve the donation process, A new clinical prediction index pub-lished in the March issue of the Canadian Medical Association Journal can help clinicians determine the risk of death in patients with end-stage renal disease considering transplantation.The index can calculate survival for various modality options for a patient with ESRD. It included patients on the Canadian kidney transplant wait list between 1995 and October 2006 as well as those who had a kidney trans-plant as their first therapy during the same time.Carl van Walraven, MD, and co-authors found that this prognostic index can accurately predict mortal -ity among patients with ESRD eligi -ble for transplantation. "We believe that this renal prognostic index can provide valuable quantitative survival data for clinicians and patients to use NKF launches Living Donor Council Wisconsin is site for Transplant GamesThe 2010 National Kidney Foun-dation's U.S. Transplant Games will be held July 30-Aug. 4 in Madison, Wisc. The Olympic-style event is for athletes who have received organ transplants of every typekidney, liver, heart, lung, pancreas ,and bone marrow. Transplant athletes will compete for gold, silver, and bronze medals in 12 different sports, including track and field, swim-ming, tennis, basketball, cycling, and golf. Presented biennially by the National Kidney Foundation since 1990 and sponsored by Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corporation, the U.S. Transplant Games draw partici-pants from all over the country who are organized into 50 state teams. "The Transplant Games visually showcase the success of transplan-tation, demonstrating the life-saving power of organ donation," said John Davis, CEO of the National Kidney Foundation. Attendance is expected to reach 7,000 at this year's event with par -ticipants range in age from 2 to 85. The Games will also offer four days of special workshops for donor fami-lies and an educational program for transplant professionals. For more information visit www. transplantgames.org. Compiled by Mark E. NeumannCalif. considering first living donor registry Health index developed for transplantCalifornia legislators are considering a bill that would establish a registry for state residents who want to donate an organ. If approved later this year, California would be the first state in the country to build a living donor registry.In addition to creating the registry, Senate Bill 1395, introduced by Sen. Elaine Alquist, D-Santa Clara, would make it easier for people to decide whether they want to donate their organs when they die, by requiring them to check a box when they get their driver's license.and expand the resources and services available to potential donors," said NKF CEO John Davis. Such barriers that the Living Donor Council will address will be the financial impact and the physi-cal and emotional issues surrounding donation, as well as the knowledge gap regarding available treatment.The NKF has appointed a 10-mem-ber executive committee of living kid- ney donors and professionals to guide the work of the Living Donor Council. For more information on living dona -tion, visit www.livingdonors.org "The spirit of generosity is out thereI think it's just waiting to be tapped," said Bryan Stewart, president of Donate Life California, a nonprofit that runs California's organ and tissue donor registry, in an interview with the San Francisco Chronicle . "We could do a great service to living donors and people on waiting lists and transplant centers with a registry. The need is very clear."About 21,000 people in California are in need of organ transplants, and the vast majority of thoseabout 16,500 peopleare waiting for kidneys. when deciding on whether to pursue transplantation or remain on dialysis," researchers said. Registered donors upWhile living donations are down, the number of people who have agreed to donate via state registries is up, according to Donate Life America. The National Donor Designation Report Card from the group shows 86.3 million people were enrolled in state donor registries at the end of 2009up 24.4% since 2007.Nationwide, 37.1% of people 18 and older have enrolled in a state donor registry. Last year, more than one-third of U.S. donors were in their state donor registry at the time of death, an increase from 2008. Transplant_NNI0610_5.indd 27 5/14/10 4:47:45 PM