Mount Sinai Pair Transplanted in Second Largest Kidney “Swap” in History
One third of people in need of a kidney transplant will be blood type incompatible with their donor and even more will be incompatible because of harmful antibodies against their donor. Yet sometimes, one person’s incompatibility can be another’s blessing in disguise.
Take for example Gina Dosso and her sister Maria Dosso. Gina had kidney failure and was nearing dialysis. Her sister Maria decided that she would like to donate a kidney to her. Unfortunately, even though they were related, Gina’s blood had harmful antibodies that would have caused her body to reject Maria’s kidney. In fact, Gina’s blood had harmful antibodies to greater than 80% of the population making it very difficult to find her any compatible donor. But rather than give up, with the help of the Mount Sinai Kidney Transplant team, they were enlisted into the National Kidney Registry, an organization that helps incompatible people find other incompatible people to perform a kidney “swap” with.