Evaluating the Donor
Living Kidney Donor Exchange Program
Altruistic Stranger Living Donor Program
Evaluating the Donor
When a living donor comes to Albert Einstein Medical Center with a potential recipient, they both receive extensive screening
and counseling from the transplant social worker. The counseling makes sure that their relationship is strong enough to withstand
such a major life-altering experience. Donors are counseled about what the operation entails and that their kidney must be
donated without any expectation of compensation. The donor also has to understand and be willing to take time off from their
job and family to recover.
Extensive tests are performed on the living donor to make sure the donor has two healthy kidneys, so if they donate one, the
remaining kidney will be healthy. Testing also confirms blood type compatibility to try and avoid organ rejection, and the
presence of any major health condition. Being compatible means that the recipient has no antibodies in their blood that would
react against the donor kidney tissue and reject the organ.
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Living Kidney Donor Exchange Program
It is estimated that one-third of willing organ donors are turned down because their blood type is not compatible with the
person to whom they want to donate their kidney. In addition, more than 10 percent of patients have antibodies against potential
donors, which makes them incompatible. Now there is a way to do a “swap,” so donors and recipients who are compatible can
be matched up and help each other out. Einstein’s Transplant Program is part of the Living Donor Exchange Program -- a registry
along with other transplant centers in the Philadelphia area. The registry consists of information on potential patients and
donors which is checked to determine if they are a good match with someone else listed in the registry. This program increases
the number of living donor transplants that can take place.
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Altruistic Stranger Living Donor Program
The Einstein Kidney Transplant Program also offers an Altruistic Stranger Living Donor Program. This type of transplant is
when a kidney is donated from a total stranger to a total stranger. (Link to altruistic donor Jude Schwegl’s story) Since
kidney transplants from an unrelated donor are considered very safe, transplants from strangers are encouraged and are increasing.
The stranger donating a kidney has no influence as to who will receive his kidney. To determine the best match, the transplant
team follows strict guidelines and criteria.
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