Traveling overseas for organ transplants increases health risks

Travelling to another country for a kidney transplant from a living donor carries significant risks, according to a study of patient travel for the procedure. The findings, which should influence future policy aimed at improving kidney transplantation rates, will be presented at ASN Kidney Week November 3-8, 2015 at the San Diego Convention Center in San Diego, CA.

Every year, many patients travel to different countries to obtain organs for transplantation.

Many ethical aspects of transplant tourism have received attention recently, but much less has been written about the medical safety of the situation.

The study consisted of 270 commercial transplants where the health outcomes were compared with 123 beneficiaries who got follow-up care at the medical center in Bahrain. The corresponding patient survival rates were 96 percent and 70 percent for commercial patients, and 98 percent and 78 percent for the controls.

For their study, Sumit Mohan, MD, of Columbia University and his colleagues examined information from the Scientific Registry of Transplant Recipients, identifying and comparing all deceased donor kidneys procured on Friday to Saturday with those that were procured on other days of the week. The most popular countries patients traveled to for surgery were the Philippines, India and Pakistan.

It was found by researchers that 1 and 10-year survival rates of commercial beneficiaries who received organs against living donors was 90 percent and 22 percent versus 97 percent and 45 percent.

“The data are consistent with other reports”, said Dr. Francis Delmonico, the executive director of the Declaration of Istanbul Custodian Group, in a press release. The Declaration was created in 2008 by an global team of experts to define organ trafficking, transplant tourism and commercialism, and achieve consensus regarding principles of practice and recommended alternatives to address the shortage of organs.

During the study, investigators in Bahrain found that people who travel overseas to buy an organ for transplant such as kidney, end up developing serious infections.