UCSF suspends living donor program after death of kidney donor in Nov.
SAN FRANCISCO - UCSF Medical Center has voluntarily suspended its living donor program for kidney transplants.
The decision follows the death after donation of a kidney donor in November according to a statement by UCSF.
The donor’s cause of death is unknown and remains under investigation.
The recipient has a functioning transplant.
UCSF said it immediately notified the United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS) of the patient death and provided the results of their investigation.
As is common when there is a donor death in the early post-operative period, UNOS has asked for a voluntary suspension of the living donor kidney program.
Other transplant programs are not impacted, such as the deceased donor kidney transplantation and living donor liver transplantation.
"The safety and well-being of our patients is our top priority, and every effort is being made to understand what happened. We are deeply saddened by this tragic event." UCSF said in a written statement.
According to the Organ Procurement and Transplant Network (OPTN), from 2009-13, four living kidney donor deaths due to medical causes were reported nationwide within the first 30 days of donation, none of which occurred at UCSF.
UCSF has more patients on the kidney transplant waiting list than any other U.S. transplant center as one of the largest kidney transplant programs nationwide.
UCSF Medical Center performs about 350 kidney transplants annually, with approximately 150 involving living donors.
It also has performed more kidney transplants overall than any other center in the country, with more than 10,000 since 1964.