14th Congress of the Middle East Society for Organ Transplantation and the 5th Middle East Transplant GamesKidney transplantationQuality and Quantity of Health Evaluation and the Follow-up of Iranian Living Donors

- The safety of donors should be the top priority of living donation.
- Lack of information and poverty are 2 main deficits in living donation in Iran.
- The Iranian model of transplantation in its current form may be considered unethical.

BackgroundShortage of donors is the main obstacle in organ transplantation. In renal transplantation living donation is the key solution for removing this barrier. The Iranian model of kidney transplantation has been faced with many challenges, but there are limited reports about the depth of evaluation and outcome of donors. This study was conducted to assess the quality and quantity of donors' health evaluation before donation and their follow-up afterward.MethodsWith assistance of the Iranian Kidney Foundation, we accessed the contact information of living donors through the years 2001-2012. We tried to contact donors who have donated at least 2 years before the survey. We interviewed these donors according to a questionnaire that was approved by the ethics committee of the research deputy of Tehran University of Medical Sciences. The collected data were analyzed using the SPSS software version 20.ResultsThe contact data of 388 donors were available but we were able to contact only 60 donors. We found that 40% of donors had been informed about the risks and benefits of donation. Also, 11% of donors had not had a full physical examination and in 5% even blood pressure was not measured before donation by the transplantation team. The donors reported that 34% of them had not been educated on how they should follow up their health status and 50% of the donors did not have any follow-up after donation.ConclusionIn the Iranian model of transplantation the donors are the neglected victims of renal transplantation and this model should be revised immediately, concerning both the medical and ethical issues.