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Altruistic Liver Donors at Thomas E Starzl Transplant Institute: Impact of the Educational Campaign: Gift of Life

S. Ganesh, M. Molinari, L. Tubb, A. Tevar, C. Hughes, J. Behari, A. Humar

Transplant Surgery, UPMC Thomas E Starzl Transplant Institute, Pittsburgh, PA

Meeting: 2020 American Transplant Congress

Abstract number: 363

Keywords: Donation, Donors, unrelated, Living donor, Patient education

Session Information

Session Name: Liver: Living Donors and Partial Grafts I

Session Type: Oral Abstract Session

Date: Saturday, May 30, 2020

Session Time: 3:15pm-4:45pm

 Presentation Time: 3:27pm-3:39pm

Location: Virtual

*Purpose: Background and aims: There is an urgent need to expand access to living donor liver transplants due to a wide gap in the availability of deceased donor organs and the number of transplant waitlist candidates. We have developed a structured educational and support program designed to overcome barriers to identifying potential live liver donors for waitlisted recipients. While most live donations are targeted at specific recipients, increasing public awareness has led to an increase in altruistic donors, defined as individuals willing to donate without a previously identified recipient. The aim of this study was to determine the impact of the program on identification of altruistic live donors.

*Methods: Methods: This study was performed between October 2018 and September 2019 at a tertiary-care, academic medical center. The structured program included the following steps: Educational campaign which was launched in October of 2018, E Blasts, and Webinars through Advocacy groups including UNOS, Donate Life America, to create awareness and educate the general public. The primary outcome measure was the number of altruistic or non-targeted donors that successfully underwent donor evaluation and were approved for listing. The secondary outcome measures were the number of donor registrations and completion of donor education session since the launch of the program.

*Results: Results: Prior to this program, there were few altruistic donations at our center in the prior 10 years. After launch of the program in October 2018, a total of 1314 potential donors registered through the program website. Of these individuals, 500 (38%) attended a donor educational session. Among these 613 individuals who attended the class, 17 (2.7%) of the altruistic donors were scheduled for full donor evaluation. 11 (1.7%) were approved to donate.6 (0.9%) of them were not candidates or couldn’t be utilized due to the reason that the recipient already received a Liver Transplant.

*Conclusions: Conclusion: A structured program designed to identify potential live donors for waitlisted liver transplant recipients resulted in an unexpected increase in identification of altruistic live donors.

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To cite this abstract in AMA style:

Ganesh S, Molinari M, Tubb L, Tevar A, Hughes C, Behari J, Humar A. Altruistic Liver Donors at Thomas E Starzl Transplant Institute: Impact of the Educational Campaign: Gift of Life [abstract]. Am J Transplant. 2020; 20 (suppl 3). https://atcmeetingabstracts.com/abstract/altruistic-liver-donors-at-thomas-e-starzl-transplant-institute-impact-of-the-educational-campaign-gift-of-life/. Accessed May 11, 2025.

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