I heard there is a waiting list for kidney transplants. How do I get my name on the list?

There is a waiting list for deceased donor transplants. A deceased donor kidney transplant is a kidney that comes from a brain-dead donor or a cadaver. Patients are listed according to their blood group: A, O, B, or AB. When the patient at the top of the list gets a kidney transplant, everyone moves up the list.

When you have completed your transplant evaluation and been accepted as a kidney transplant candidate, your transplant program activates you on the national waiting list.

Your HLAs are identified and entered onto a regional and national list. HLA stands for human leukocyte antigens, and these antigens are on leukocytes (white blood cells) and most solid tissues and organs of the body but are not present on red blood cells. They have many functions, but with regard to kidney transplantation they are the structures on the donor’s kidney that the recipients recognize as different from themselves and try to destroy. If donor and recipient have the same HLAs, there is less chance that recipients will reject the kidney. Children of the same parents have a one chance in four of having exactly the same HLAs.

If a deceased donor kidney becomes available, the potential recipient is “crossmatched” with that donor. Crossmatch means that serum from the recipient (the clear liquid portion of the blood) is mixed with leukocytes from the donor in a test tube and allowed to react. The cells, which have the same antigens as the kidney to be transplanted, are then checked to be sure they have not been harmed by anything in the recipient’s serum. If the cells are not harmed, the crossmatchm  is said to be “compatible” and the kidney can be transplanted. If the cells have been harmed, the crossmatch is said to be “incompatible” and, in most cases, the transplant cannot happen.

Your blood type, tissue type, blood antibody levels, and body size are data entered into the waiting list computer program.