If you need a kidney, until now you have had two options. Get a kidney from a deceased donor or find a friend or close family member who will donate one of their two kidneys to you. Norway has now joined a Nordic kidney replacement system which provides a third option. As today, here too you have to find someone you have a close relationship with who is willing to donate a kidney. But if, for medical reasons, it is not possible to get that particular kidney, the new kidney exchange system may be relevant: Here, the recipient and donor are registered in a database, which looks for matches among other recipients and donors throughout the Nordics. In this way, kidneys can be exchanged across national borders and more people can get help. The system therefore means that you donate your kidney to a stranger, but that the person you would like to be a donor for receives a kidney from another donor in the system. Simultaneous. Chief physician at Rikshospitalet, Jørn Petter Lindahl, hopes the method will reduce the kidney queues: MORE TRANSPLANTATIONS: Chief physician at Rikshospitalet, Jørn Petter Lindahl Photo: Knut Are Tornås – Realistically, we imagine that we can achieve between 10 and 15 transplants through this program and it will also help to alleviate the waiting lists for those waiting for a deceased donor. Jon Anker Liseberg Sarpebakken, communications officer at the National Association for Kidney Patients and Transplanters, is very happy with the new method: – But isn’t it a bit strange that you don’t donate a kidney to the person you want to donate a kidney to? – Because of the motivation they have to give a kidney to their next of kin, you actually give a kidney indirectly to that person, even if it is not your own kidney that ends up in that body. So I think the inner motivation will still be just as strong. HOPEFUL: Jon Anker Lisberg Sarpebakken Editor and communications manager National Association for Kidney Patients and Transplants How kidney exchange works in the Nordics If you need a kidney, it must normally come from a deceased donor, or from a person you have a relationship with, but there are often medical reasons why it doesn’t work. Then kidney exchange may be an alternative. Possible donor and recipient are registered anonymously in a database. Three or four times a year, it is checked whether there is a match between donor and recipient across the Nordic countries and Estonia. If there is a match and consent from both parties, the transplant will be planned within three months. The program uses an algorithm based on a matching theory that mathematician Alvin Roth was awarded the Nobel Prize in Mathematics for developing. Norway joined the program in 2022 Rikshospitalet believes it is realistic that 10-15 transplants will be done through this system each year. The kidney exchange program is called STEP (ScandiaTransplant kidney Exchange Program) Source: The National Association for Kidney Patients and Transplants While waiting for a kidney – You have to. Lisbeth Berg is connected to a dialysis machine at Drammen Hospital. She does that every Monday and Thursday for four and a half hours each time, while the machine does the work her kidneys should actually do. – It’s fine in a way. But it is tiring. It’s a pretty good strain on the body. My head hurts a lot. In the chair next to her sits little sister Gry Beathe Sanders. She also has kidney disease. The fact that they are together about it makes it a little easier: – It’s great to have someone to talk to who you actually know. COMMON FATE: The sisters Lisbeth Berg and Gry Beathe Sanders enjoy each other a lot. Photo: Knut Are Tornås Like over 500 other Norwegians, they need new kidneys. Until now, there have been two opportunities to get it. Either from a deceased organ donor, or from a living good friend or family member: – I have a friend who really wanted to, but then she got problems with her knees. You must be completely healthy to be allowed to do it. My husband has high blood pressure and is on tablets, so it won’t work. And the rest of the family have the same disease. Despite the fact that the need is very great, the figures from 2022 show that we have to go back to 1983 to find fewer people who have donated one of their kidneys. A kidney from a living donor will often work better than one from a deceased donor. Chief physician at Rikshospitalet Kristian Heldal believes that there could be several reasons for the decline: – We think that something may be related to the pandemic, that it takes longer to examine the patients because both health personnel and patients are sick, then there is probably something to do with family relationships, fewer siblings, who give. And increased morbidity in the population. FEWER DONORS: Senior doctor Kristian Heldal says we have to go back to 1983 to find fewer living kidney donors Photo: Knut Are Tornås Sisters’ hope for the future At the hospital in Drammen, Gry Beathe Sanders also talks about the possibility of a living donor. Right now it is not relevant because she has recently been through cancer. In any case, she has her doubts: – Now my daughter has been and signed up, but it’s a bit like that; should I take my kid’s kidney? It’s a bit like that, I don’t really like it. So if I could choose, I think I would wait for a deceased donor. It’s your kid, isn’t it. So, how long are they waiting? And hope. – Sometimes it’s hard, but as Bengt (the intensive care nurse, editor’s note) once said, that we do have an opportunity to be here. It keeps us up. There are many illnesses that do not have the opportunity to come and get help. And what do you miss the most? – Not feeling sick, headache, nausea, bad breath. Vacation again. REMEMBER YOU WILL DIE: Both sisters have Memento Mori tattooed on their arms. Latin for “Remember that you will die”. Photo: Knut Are Tornås
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A record few donate kidneys while they are alive, but a new method offers hope
