Richmond, Va. -- The OPTN/UNOS Board of Directors, at its meeting June 19 and 20, approved elements of a pilot national system to facilitate kidney paired donation. Kidney paired donation involves two or more living donor transplants where the initially intended donor/recipient pairs are medically incompatible; two or more donor/recipient pairs are then crossed to provide a compatible living donor for each recipient.

Richmond, Va. -- United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS) dedicated a set of wind chimes in honor of all transplant professionals who have given their lives in the performance of their duties, and in particular six individuals who died in a tragic plane accident while bringing an organ offer to the University of Michigan Medical Center. The ceremony coincided with the meeting of the Board of Directors of UNOS and the Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network (OPTN) June 19 and 20.

Selected feature articles from the May/June issue of the UNOS Update are now available in PDF format in the Resources section of the UNOS Web site.

The OPTN/UNOS nominating committee is soliciting recommendations for vice president/president-elect; treasurer; minority transplant professional representative; and patient and donor affairs representatives who represent the interests of recipients, candidates, living donors, family members and voluntary health organizations.

The Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network (OPTN), administered by United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS), is dedicated to providing assistance to transplant patients and facilitating lifesaving organ donation in the event of a natural disaster.

The OPTN/UNOS Executive Committee recently approved a resource document [link to document location] to help living donor kidney transplant programs establish or revise medical protocols for evaluating potential living donors. The document is advisory and does not reflect OPTN policy requirements for member transplant centers.

Five policy proposals are now being offered for public comment. These proposals were developed by a number of OPTN/UNOS committees.