People who need a new kidney may need to look no farther than across the dining room table, according to a new study.  New research shows spouses are good potential sources for so-called "living-unrelated organ donation."  Due to a worldwide shortage of organs available for transplant from people who have died, "living organ donors" have become a major source of organs for transplantation.
 
Dr. Yu-Ji Lee and colleagues from Samsung Medical Center reported in Dialysis and Transplantation that kidney transplantation from spousal donors "has comparable outcomes to those of other living-unrelated donors, and shortens the time spent on the waiting list."  Spousal donors have a strong emotional bond with their recipients, Lee and colleagues point out, and some investigators have found spousal donor transplantation improved family relationships.

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