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UCLA Kidney Exchange Program
The CHAIN - Premieres May 15, 2013
The Chain is an innovative, digital short-form documentary that uses five interwoven story lines to provide a compelling portrait of organ donation in the United States. Learn more about kidney chains and how you can make a difference. Follow on twitter #TheChain.
Pay it forward.
Give the gift of life. Give the gift of possibility.
Donate now to the UCLA Kidney Transplant and Exchange Program.
UCLA Kidney Exchange - An option for patients with incompatible living donors
What is a kidney exchange?
A kidney exchange is an innovative twist on efforts aimed at increasing the donor pool by giving people who are unable to receive a kidney from a loved one or friend the opportunity to still receive a kidney through an exchange between incompatible donor-recipient pairs. Approximately one-third of patients who have a willing living kidney donor will not be able to receive the donor kidney because of an incompatible blood type or incompatible crossmatch. In the past, that would mean that patients often would have to wait for years on dialysis until a deceased donor kidney became available.
Now, with this exciting new program, you can exchange donors with another pair(s) in a similar situation as you, making transplantation possible. Learn more about kidney swap and kidney chain »
Two types of kidney exchanges are possible:
Featured on the New York Times: 60 Lives, 30 Kidneys, All Linked
N.Y. Times Showcases Massive Kidney-Exchange Chain
The Feb. 19 New York Times ran a front-page article on the longest paired U.S. kidney exchange chain to date, involving 30 kidneys and 60 people across the country. Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center's kidney transplant team handled 16 of the patients, the largest number of all hospitals participating. Dr. Jeffrey Veale, assistant professor-in-residence of urology and director of UCLA's donor exchange program, was quoted. Read full article »
Click here for more kidney exchange videos »
About Us
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Download and print our brochure |
UCLA's Kidney Transplantation Program performed some of the earliest transplantations in the United States, and for more than 50 years has been a national leader in both clinical research and academic excellence. UCLA is one of the largest kidney transplant programs in the country, performing more than 300 transplantations each year. More importantly, UCLA has some of the best outcomes, according to the Scientific Registry of Transplant Recipients, a national database of organ transplant statistics. UCLA's program has helped to pioneer donor exchanges, and performed the first transcontinental chain in July 2008.
Visit our FAQs page to learn more about kidney exchange
and how you can get started »
"It's beautiful to see a donor helping his or her loved one as well as a total stranger. This program has the potential to dramatically increase the number of transplants performed in the United States."
- Dr. Jeffrey Veale, UCLA kidney transplant surgeon
Resource Links
Contact Us
UCLA Kidney Transplant Program
200 UCLA Medical Plaza, Suite 365C
Los Angeles, CA 90095
(310) 267-6907
www.transplants.ucla.edu/KidneyExchange
