Allocation of kidneys in the UK

Abstract

The allocation of kidneys in the UK was based previously on what was known as a Beneficial Matching Scheme. This described a scheme in which one of a pair of kidneys retrieved would be offered to the national pool for any beneficially matched recipient in the UK. A beneficial match was defined as recipient and donor with either no mismatches at the HLA-A, -B and -DR loci or one mismatch at either the -A or -B locus. This scheme had been in operation since 1989 [1]. However, in 1996 the Kidney Advisory Group (KAG) of the UKTSSA were concerned that other factors might be equally as important, if not more important, than HLA matching, and established the HLA Task Force under the Chairmanship of Peter Morris. The remit of the Task Force was to examine not only the influence of HLA matching on cadaveric graft outcome, but also other factors which may have a significant influence on graft outcome.