New findings from the University of Florida, Cleveland Clinic and Case Western Reserve University suggest kidney transplant candidates over the age of 60 should consider finding a live donor instead of waiting for a cadaver kidney to become available. This suggestion was made because the study found almost half of these candidates who are put on the waiting list for a deceased donor organ die before receiving a transplant.
 
Unfortunately, older patients are least likely to pursue a live donor transplant and less likely to have healthy living donors available. This is because the older people get, the older their siblings and peers become, with potentially more medical problems than when they were younger. Older patients also say they do not want to burden their children, other relatives or friends by asking them to be live donors.
 
Researchers suggest older patients ask their doctors about their chance of surviving to receive a transplant and to speed through the steps necessary to get on the waiting list.

This article originally appeared in the July 2009 issue of Kidney Transplant Today.