Redesign of National Donor-Liver Network Could Boost Transplants By Several Hundred Per Year, Pitt Researchers Report

A redesign of the nation’s donor-liver distribution network developed by University of Pittsburgh researchers could result in several hundred more people each year receiving the transplants they need.The team reports in the journal INFORMS Management Science that donor livers currently are doled out to 11 national regions that evolved with little regard for geography and demographics, an arrangement that prevents many livers from getting to prospective recipients in time. The Pitt researchers instead trimmed the network down to six regions that better account for urban and rural population differences, geographic distance, and the anticipated supply of and demand for donor livers. They calculated that their rearrangement could result in up to 14 percent more transplants each year, a sizable increase considering that more than 6,000 transplants were performed in 2009 alone.

... “We’re simply redesigning the hierarchy by geographic and demographic information to increase the likelihood that recipients will be found closer to the liver’s point of origin,” Schaefer said. “Under the current system, a liver harvested in New Jersey is more likely to go to a patient in Beckley, West Virginia, than one in New York City. Plus, it is well known that there are big geographic disparities in procurement and that there are some places where it is better to be on an organ waiting list than others.” ...

via Redesign of National Donor-Liver Network Could Boost Transplants By Several Hundred Per Year, Pitt Researchers Report | University of Pittsburgh News.