Living donor vs deceased donor

[bette1]

I had a discussion with my transplant doc today about my survival rate for a 6/6 deceased donor kidney vs having a living donor.  I realized that there are a lot of benefits to having a living donor, most notable, not having to wait on the list, but how much do they really improve outcomes? 

[Jie]

Hi Bette1,

Here are some numbers from the 2008 OPTN/SRTR report:

Graft survival rates:
Living donors:
                           3 Months               1 Year                    5 Years                 10 Years   
                            N      %  Std. Err.  N      %   Std. Err.  N      %    Std. Err.  N % Std. Err
Total Mismatch 0 1,128 98.8% 0.3% 1,128 97.6% 0.5% 3,628 88.0% 0.8% 6,521 72.8% 1.0%
                     1 759 98.2% 0.5% 759 96.1% 0.7% 2,385 81.6% 1.1% 4,011 60.4% 1.5%
                     2 2,312 97.5% 0.3% 2,312 95.5% 0.4% 7,070 80.4% 0.7% 11,652 57.5% 0.9%
                     3 3,707 97.4% 0.3% 3,707 95.5% 0.3% 11,114 79.6% 0.5% 17,738 54.5% 0.8%
                     4 1,807 98.2% 0.3% 1,807 96.2% 0.4% 4,960 80.5% 0.8% 7,283 58.8% 1.3%
                     5 2,095 97.1% 0.4% 2,095 94.8% 0.5% 5,809 78.8% 0.8% 8,196 55.2% 1.3%
                     6 1,091 97.3% 0.5% 1,091 94.7% 0.7% 3,058 79.2% 1.1% 4,180 53.4% 2.0%

Deceased donors:
                    0 2,584 96.7% 0.4% 2,584 93.1% 0.5% 7,246 74.9% 0.7% 12,213 50.3% 0.8%
                    1 139 96.4% 1.6% 139 92.0% 2.3% 728 74.4% 1.9% 2,213 49.8% 1.5%
                    2 563 95.7% 0.9% 563 92.2% 1.1% 2,479 71.8% 1.1% 5,874 45.8% 1.0%
                    3 1,969 95.7% 0.5% 1,969 92.0% 0.6% 6,524 72.3% 0.7% 13,398 46.4% 0.7%
                    4 4,188 95.6% 0.3% 4,188 91.6% 0.4% 10,934 70.1% 0.6% 18,524 44.5% 0.6%
                    5 4,734 95.7% 0.3% 4,734 91.4% 0.4% 11,364 68.8% 0.6% 17,298 41.2% 0.8%
                    6 2,056 94.3% 0.5% 2,056 89.6% 0.7% 5,290 65.5% 0.9% 8,143 38.9% 1.1%

Studying these numbers, you will find the answers.  For 10 years, 6/6 deceased donors have a 50.3% vs 53.4% for 0/6 living donors. So the worst match from the living donors are still better than the best match of deceased donors. Note that these are average numbers, and an individual kidney will be different. I think only about 13% of deceased donor transplants are 6/6.