In 2024, three pairs of donors/recipients were operated on simultaneously in France. An unprecedented situation, made possible by the new bioethics law of 2021.
This is a first in France. In 2024, three pairs of donors/recipients were operated on simultaneously. This operation, coordinated by the Biomedicine Agency, represents hope for all patients awaiting a transplant: ten years after the transplant, the survival of grafts taken from living donors is 76.3%, compared to 61.4%. for grafts from deceased donors.
This first “winning triplet” of kidney transplants from living donors with crossed donations was carried out between the hospitals of Reims and Bordeaux. This technique makes it possible to circumvent the incompatibility between a living kidney donor and his sick relative, by bringing together pairs of donors/recipients who are not compatible with each other, but whose recipient is compatible with the donor of the other pair, and vice versa”, explained this Thursday, November 14, the Biomedicine Agency.
An operation made possible by legislative progress
This first “triplet” (a term designating an association of three elements) was made possible thanks to recent legislative developments. Before 2021, cross-donation was in fact prohibited. But the new law relating to bioethics, promulgated on August 2, 2021, has changed the terms of this type of donation.
The number of donor/recipient pairs authorized for cross-kidney donation has increased from two to six, thereby increasing matching possibilities and improving access to transplantation from living donors. for the thousands of patients in chronic end-stage renal failure.
“The higher the number of donor/recipient pairs registered, the greater the chance of identifying pairs compatible with each other at the national level,” notes the Agency in a press release.
Soon a second triplet?
In any case, the use of this type of program finally seems to be starting in France with numerous pairs in the testing phase. The Biomedicine Agency is pleased that “a second triplet is being organized”, and should take place by the end of 2024.
To implement this process, the Agency first deploys algorithms which make it possible, from the registered pairs, to find a blood and immunological compatibility between donor and recipient. It then puts the hospital teams of the patients concerned in contact and facilitates the transfer of medical data by anonymizing it and securing the exchanges.
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