A record chain of kidney transplants resulted from a mix of medical need, pay-it-forward selflessness and lockstep coordination among 17 hospitals over four months.
This is a fascinating story of the longest “domino chain” of kidney transplantations yet done.
Domino chains, which were first attempted in 2005 at Johns Hopkins, seek to increase the number of people who can be helped by living donors. In 2010, chains and other forms of paired exchanges resulted in 429 transplants. Computer models suggest that an additional 2,000 to 4,000 transplants could be achieved each year if Americans knew more about such programs and if there were a nationwide pool of all eligible donors and recipients.
Dorry Segev, a transplant surgeon at Johns Hopkins and a graduate of our department, and mathematician Sommer Gentry have done much of the important algorithmic work that underlies many of these chains.
