Say you wanted to donate a kidney to a relative, but weren't a match. Would you donate your kidney to a stranger who could use it, in exchange for a kidney from one of their relatives that was a match to your kin? Seems like a good idea, and such plans are being set up, Reuters reported. A new Living Donor Kidney Exchange Program launched earlier this month by the New York Organ Donor Network will allow potential kidney donor-recipient pairs who are not suitable for reasons such as mismatched blood type to be matched with other willing donor-recipient pairs. "What we're trying to really do is take advantage of the pool of willing living doors who want to donate to people they know but are physically, biologically incompatible," Elaine Berg, president and CEO of the New York Organ Donor Network, told Reuters Health. "Rather than saying, 'Sorry you can't donate, goodbye,' (we can say) 'we may have this other option'," Berg said. Similar programs have been established in New England and Ohio as well as in the Maryland-based Johns Hopkins Comprehensive Transplant Center and the University of Chicago Hospitals. --more 1822 Local Time 1522 GMT
