We listed patients and we should transplant them

Abstract

Twenty percent of kidneys recovered for transplantation are discarded. The most common reason for not transplanting these kidneys is to organ quality and biopsy findings. Yet, organ quality measures are not associated with discard rates and kidneys with poorer quality measures lead to greater life span for the recipient compared to staying on dialysis. Biopsy findings are not correlated with graft survival in most cases. The risk aversion of transplant centers from using “high‐risk” kidneys can be, in part at least, attributed to negative consequences of poor graft survival with possible program sanctions or possible loss of insurance contracts. CMS has taken a first step by eliminating short‐term graft survival as a performance measure for transplant centers. Many of the discarded kidneys will provide good results if transplanted and would recognize that patients value getting a transplant above graft survival.