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The Psychosocial Impact of Withdrawing from Living Kidney Donation

  • Live Kidney Donation (K Lentine, Section Editor)
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Abstract

Purpose of Review

We summarized data on the experience of people who withdraw from living kidney donation for non-medical reasons and suggest transplant centers strategies to enhance support for this population.

Recent Findings

Reported rates of opting out vary widely, from 0.2 to 22%. Individuals often describe more than one factor that contributed to their decision not to donate. Limited data suggests that most who withdraw from donation do not experience a long-term negative impact on their relationship with their intended recipient. For a minority, however, the decision to opt out may occasionally strain relationships and create significant emotional distress. Non-specific statements of ineligibility to donate may alleviate these complications, but they are rarely used.

Summary

The psychosocial impact of opting out of donation is complex and merits further research.

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Notes

  1. This review focuses on individuals who begin the donor evaluation process and then withdraw from further consideration. A separate group of individuals never offer to donate; this group has been termed “non-donors.” [1, 2].

References

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Section of Organ Transplantation and Immunology, Department of Surgery, Yale School of Medicine, New Haven, CT, USA

    Carrie Thiessen & Sanjay Kulkarni

Authors
  1. Carrie Thiessen
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  2. Sanjay Kulkarni
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Correspondence to Carrie Thiessen.

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Conflict of Interest

Sanjay Kulkarni declares no conflict of interest.

Carrie Thiessen and Sanjay Kulkarni reports grants from Greenwall Foundation, outside the submitted work. Sanjay Kulkarni received an investigator-initiated grant from Alexion, outside the submitted work.

Human and Animal Rights and Informed Consent

This article does not contain any studies with human or animal subjects performed by any of the authors.

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This article is part of the Topical Collection on Live Kidney Donation

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Thiessen, C., Kulkarni, S. The Psychosocial Impact of Withdrawing from Living Kidney Donation. Curr Transpl Rep 5, 64–71 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40472-018-0185-x

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