OSU Wexner completes 20 kidney transplants in 2 days; 10 people helped by rare surgical chain

COLUMBUS, Ohio — A medical center at Ohio State University recently performed a rare 20-person living kidney donor transplant chain, completing 20 surgeries over two days, the university announced.

It was a record for the university. In addition, this 20-person transplant chain is believed to be one of the largest chains in the nation to take place in a single institution, Ohio State said in a news release.

The synchronized surgeries took place at the Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center Comprehensive Transplant Center. Surgeons transplanted healthy kidneys from 10 living donors into 10 recipients who needed a kidney transplant, Ohio State said in a news release.

Five donor and five recipient surgeries were performed on each of the two days.

Paired kidney donation happens when a person who needs a kidney has a living donor who is not a compatible blood or tissue match, the university said. The transplant team links incompatible donor/recipient pairs with other incompatible donor/recipient pairs to form a chain, so each recipient receives a compatible organ. The transplant swap begins with a donor who is not receiving a kidney, and the final recipient is a person on the transplant waitlist.

“Big chains like this one allow us to help a large number of patients in a short period of time,” said Dr. Kenneth Washburn, executive director of the Wexner Comprehensive Transplant Center.

The Wexner transplant team planned this chain since October. Transplant coordinators worked closely with prospective donors and recipients to keep the chain intact. If a donor or recipient had developed a cold or fever, and been unable to undergo the procedure, it would have broken the chain, Ohio State said.

“People with kidney failure can live for a long time on dialysis, but the treatment can be hard on the body and limit quality of life,” said Dr. Amer Rajab, surgical director of kidney transplantation and clinical professor of surgery at Ohio State College of Medicine. Rajab led the transplant chain and performed six of the donor surgeries.

“Once the organ transplant is complete and the new kidney starts working, time and time again our patients tell me how good they feel,” Rajab said.

Ohio State’s Comprehensive Transplant Center is one of the busiest kidney transplant centers in the United States, having performed more than 8,500 kidney transplants since 1967.

According to the Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network, there are 104,840 people on the transplant waitlist and 90,506 need a kidney. More than 2,000 of them live in Ohio.

“This kidney chain removed 10 patients from the transplant waitlist, which will hopefully shorten the wait for others,” Rajab said. “More living kidney donors are needed so we can help additional people. Living donation is safe and our donors go on to live very full lives.”

Facts about organ, tissue donation

According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention:

• The most frequently transplanted organs in the United States are the kidney, liver, heart, and lungs.
• The most commonly transplanted tissues in this country are bones, tendons, ligaments, skin, heart valves, blood vessels, and corneas.
• On any given day, more than 100,000 people are on waiting lists for organs.
• In 2022, there were approximately 15,000 deceased organ donors. On average, they donated 2.5 organs each.
• Living donors donate approximately 6,000 organs on average per year.

Organizations that support organ donation

Lifebanc serves Northeast Ohio as a nonprofit organ and tissue recovery organization. The organization works with 80 hospitals in a 20-county area of Northeast Ohio, in addition to providing lifesaving organs to transplant centers across the United States.

Donate Life Ohio encourages Ohioans to sign up for organ donations through the Ohio Donor Registry.

Transplant House of Cleveland provides affordable, temporary housing for organ transplant patients and their families.

Julie Washington covers healthcare for cleveland.com. Read previous stories at this link.