Shipping of Living Donor Kidneys

COVID-19 has impacted donation and transplantation in Canada.  New measures are being taken to minimize exposure to and transmission of the virus and to protect donors and transplant recipients. The Kidney Transplant Advisory Committee (KTAC) and the Living Donation Advisory Committee (LDAC) have recommended that to minimize potential exposure of living donors to COVID-19 they should not be required to use public transportation such as trains and planes to travel to the recipient’s centre to donate their kidney. In cases where donors cannot travel in their personal vehicle to the recipient’s centre the recommendation is to remove the kidney at the donor’s centre and ship it to the recipient’s centre. 

Publications

The impact of COVID-19 on the Canadian Kidney Paired Donation program: an opportunity for universal implementation of kidney shipping. McGregor TB, Sener A, Yetzer K, Gillrie C, Paraskevas S.Can J Surg. 2020 Sep-Oct;63(5):E451-E453. doi: 10.1503/cjs.012620.PMID: 33026312 

Presentations

"When Kidneys Fly",  April 30, 2021. When Kidneys Fly was a special presentation highlighting both the Canadian and American experience shipping living donor kidneys by air for kidney paired exchange transplants. The Canadian Experience - Dr. Steven Paraskevas, MD, PhD, McGill University Health Centre;  The U.S. Experience – Dr. Dorry Segev, MD, PhD, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. 

A Shipping Kidney’s Panel Q&A session was held September 1, 2020. A recording can be found below. 

Please email kpd@blood.ca if you have any questions.