Vol. 44 (6): 1071-1080, November – December, 2018

doi: 10.1590/S1677-5538.IBJU.2017.0693


REVIEW ARTICLE

Aline Adour Yacoubian 1, 2, Rana Abu Dargham 1, 2, Raja B. Khauli 1, 2
1 Department of Surgery, American University of Beirut Medical Center, Beirut, Lebanon; 2 Division of Urology and Renal Transplantation, American University of Beirut Medical Center, Beirut, Lebanon

ABSTRACT

Kidney transplantation for end-stage renal disease remains the preferred solution due to its survival advantage, enhanced quality of life and cost-effectiveness. The main obstacle worldwide with this modality of treatment is the scarcity of organs. The de­mand has always exceeded the supply resulting in different types of donations. Kidney donation includes pure living related donors, deceased donors, living unrelated do­nors (altruistic), paired kidney donation and more recently compensated kidney dona­tion. Ethical considerations in live donor kidney transplantation have always created a debate especially when rewarding unrelated donors. In this paper, we examine the problems of financially driven kidney transplantation, the ethical legitimacy of this practice, and propose some innovative methods and policies that could be adopted to ensure a better practice with accepted ethical guidelines.

Keywords:  Kidney Transplantation; Kidney Diseases; Review [Publication Type]

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