Bi-organ paired exchange-Sentinel case of a liver-kidney swap.

Organ transplantation is the optimal treatment for patients with end stage liver disease and end stage renal disease. However, due to the imbalance in the demand and supply of deceased organs, most transplant centers worldwide have consciously pursued a strategy for living donation. Paired exchanges were introduced as a means to bypass various biologic incompatibilities (blood- and tissue-typing), while expanding the living donor pool. This shift in paradigm has introduced new ethical concerns that have hitherto been unaddressed, especially with nondirected, altruistic living donors. So far, transplant communities have focused efforts on separate liver- and kidney-paired exchanges, whereas the concept of a transorgan paired exchange has been theorized and could potentially facilitate a greater number of transplants. We describe the performance of the first successful liver-kidney swap.

Ethical issues regarding related and nonrelated living organ donors.

The ethics of the clinical practice of transplanting human organs for end-stage organ disease is a fascinating topic. Who is the "owner" of the transplantable organs of a deceased, brain-dead patient? Who should have a right to receive these organs? Who set the boundaries between a living donor's autonomy and a "paternalistic" doctor? What constitutes a proper consent? These questions are only some of the ethical issues that have been discussed in the last 60 years. All of these ethical issues are intensified by the fact that supply of human organs does not match demand, and that, as a consequence, living-donor organ transplantation is widely utilized. The aim of this article is not to be exhaustive but to present the general ethical principles of beneficence, nonmaleficence, and justice as applied to organ transplantation. Moreover, the topic of reimbursement for organ donation is also discussed.

Subsequent donation requests among 2472 unrelated hematopoietic progenitor cell donors are associated with bone marrow harvest.

Approximately 1 in 20 unrelated donors are asked to make a second donation of hematopoietic progenitor cells, the majority for the same patient. Anthony Nolan undertook a study of subsequent hematopoietic progenitor cell donations made by its donors from 2005 to 2011, with the aims of predicting those donors more likely to be called for a second donation, assessing rates of serious adverse reactions and examining harvest yields. This was not a study of factors predictive of second allografts. During the study period 2591 donations were made, of which 120 (4.6%) were subsequent donations. The median time between donations was 179 days (range, 21-4016). Indications for a second allogeneic transplant included primary graft failure (11.7%), secondary graft failure (53.2%), relapse (30.6%) and others (1.8%). On multivariate analysis, bone marrow harvest at first donation was associated with subsequent donation requests (odds ratio 2.00, P=0.001). The rate of serious adverse reactions in donors making a subsequent donation appeared greater than the rate in those making a first donation (relative risk=3.29, P=0.005). Harvest yields per kilogram recipient body weight were equivalent between donations, although females appeared to have a lower yield at the subsequent donation. Knowledge of these factors will help unrelated donor registries to counsel their donors.

"Living cadavers" in Bangladesh: bioviolence in the human organ bazaar.

The technology-driven demand for the extraction of human organs--mainly kidneys, but also liver lobes and single corneas--has created an illegal market in body parts. Based on ethnographic fieldwork, in this article I examine the body bazaar in Bangladesh: in particular, the process of selling organs and the experiences of 33 kidney sellers who are victims of this trade. The sellers' narratives reveal how wealthy buyers (both recipients and brokers) tricked Bangladeshi poor into selling their kidneys; in the end, these sellers were brutally deceived and their suffering was extreme. I therefore argue that the current practice of organ commodification is both exploitative and unethical, as organs are removed from the bodies of the poor by inflicting a novel form of bioviolence against them. This bioviolence is deliberately silenced by vested interest groups for their personal gain.

Bancos de cordón umbilical / Umbilical cord banks

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