Working Paper: NBER ID: w28500
Authors: Itai Ashlagi; Alvin E. Roth
Abstract: Many patients in need of a kidney transplant have a willing but incompatible (or poorly matched) living donor. Kidney exchange programs arrange exchanges among such patient-donor pairs, in cycles and chains of exchange, so each patient receives a compatible kidney. Kidney exchange has become a standard form of transplantation in the United States and a few other countries, in large part because of continued attention to the operational details that arose as obstacles were overcome and new obstacles became relevant. We review some of the key operational issues in the design of successful kidney exchange programs. Kidney exchange has yet to reach its full potential, and the paper further describes some open questions that we hope will continue to attract attention from researchers interested in the operational aspects of dynamic exchange.
Keywords: kidney exchange; operations research; transplantation
JEL Codes: D47; I11
Edges that are evidenced by causal inference methods are in orange, and the rest are in light blue.
| Cause | Effect |
|---|---|
| operational design of kidney exchange programs (D47) | number of successful transplants (Y10) |
| nonsimultaneous nondirected donor chains (D64) | number of successful transplants (Y10) |
| operational adaptations (O30) | improved outcomes (I14) |
| flexibility in scheduling surgeries (I11) | number of successful transplants (Y10) |