Patients who are on the national transplant waiting list can sometimes take on desperate measures and travel to another country to procure a donor organ from the black market. Apart from the ethical and legal dangers, a new study found that the post-surgery health risks are 'not worth it'.
The practice of 'transplant tourism' has been banned in most countries, but black market donor selling is still prevalent in some. A new study conducted by researchers in Bahrain found patients who bought a kidney abroad sometimes suffered from complications such as cytomegalovirus, hepatitis B and C.
The researchers analyzed the heath recovery of 270 transplant patients in Bahrain who traveled abroad to buy a donor kidney. They were compared with the health results of 123 transplant patients who received a living donor's organ at a Bahrain hospital.
The research team found that patients who bought kidneys abroad had higher rates of complications such as ureter obstruction and fluid buildup. The commercial kidney also a had shorter survival rate. After a year, 91 percent of the commercial kidney were deemed functional. As for patients who received a living donor kidney at the Bahrain hospital, after one year, 98 percent of the kidneys were still working.
After 10 years, only 22 percent of the commercial kidneys were functional compared to the 44 percent of living donor kidneys. When it comes to survival, both showed somehow similar results. For commercial kidney recipients, the survival rate is 96 percent for one year, and 70 percent for ten years. For living donor recipients, the survival rate is 98 percent for one year and 78 percent for 10 years.
The study was presented at the American Society of Nephrology annual meeting prior to its publication in a peer-reviewed journal.
Dr. Gabriel Danovitch, University of California's kidney transplantation director, stressed that in the United States, the practice of traveling abroad to buy black-market kidney is not clear in terms of prevalence as there really is no way of knowing the numbers.
"But, my sense is that the numbers are fairly small, as the dangers of transplant tourism are becoming more and more clear. In a paid system, the prime focus is on making money...Centers that are willing to do these don't really care what happens to the donors or recipients after the transplant," added Danovitch who was not involved in the Bahrain study.
According to the American Transplant Foundation, there are over 123,000 patients in the U.S. who are currently wait-listed for a donor organ. In every 12 minutes, one patient is added to the national transplant waiting list. An average of 21 patients die daily due to lack of available organ for transplant. Moreover, approximately 7 percent of the wait-listed patient die before they get an organ, which is over 6,500 patients in one year.
Photo: Army Medicine, John Chew | Flickr
