In the latest issue of Transplant International, Patel and colleagues studied the impact of utilizing kidneys from older living donors (>60 years). This UK registry study of >30,000 subjects on the waiting list compared survival of kidney recipients from older living donors to standard criteria deceased donors or patients remaining on dialysis. The results are indisputable: patient survival was much better in recipients of “older kidneys” than in subjects remaining on dialysis and further advantageous to recipients from standard criteria deceased donors. The authors conclude that older living kidney donors should be actively explored as an excellent treatment option.
