Device could lead to more living kidney donors

CTV News.ca

Photo: Doctors at St. Michael's hospital in Toronto are using a device that can wash antibodies right out of a person's blood in hopes of increasing the number of possible kidney donors.

When a kidney patient is in need of a transplant, they often turn to their family members, hoping one of them can donate the organ they need to survive. But in more than half of cases, family members can't donate because their blood type doesn't match the recipient.

But now, doctors in Toronto are trying to increase the number of possible kidney donors with a new device they hope can fix the blood compatibility problem.

George Alvarez is a kidney patient who has already used the device. When his kidney failed and he needed a new one, his wife, Maria Moya, offered hers right away. But because Maria has blood type B and George has type O, doctors knew that the antibodies in George's blood would eventually attack the donated kidney and the organ would fail.

Read more: http://m.ctv.ca/topstories/20120518/kidney-organ-transplant-blood-type-120518.html