National program saves lives of 1,000 hard-to-match kidney recipients

The national Highly Sensitized Patient (HSP) Program for kidney transplants has reached the milestone of 1,000 transplants.

An undated file photo of specimen containers containing human kidneys destine for transplant. (CTV News)

‘Highly sensitized’ means the patients have a high level of antibodies that puts them at higher request for rejection.

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A collaboration that involves Canadian Blood Services and all provincial donation and transplant programs launched in 2013 – the HSP organ-sharing program gives highly sensitized patients access to a larger national pool of kidney donors, sharing them across provincial boundaries.

A person’s increased sensitivity can be caused by factors such as previous blood transfusions, previous transplants or previous pregnancies and unfortunately it will cause them to reject a kidney from most donors.

"Many of these patients would not have had received a transplant had it not been for this program, this was essential to them finding their rare donor that they're compatible with,” said Dr. Steven Paraskevas, a transplant surgeon at McGill University Health Centre and chair of Canadian Blood Services’ Kidney Transplant Advisory Committee.

“Many of them would have continued to be on dialysis and some would certainly have died as a result."

Because they are hard to match, these patients can wait several years on the waitlist and some may never find a suitable match.

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More than 2,500 Canadians are still on the waiting list for a kidney transplant.

“Canadians are encouraged to register their decision to become an organ and tissue donor and to share their decision with their family and loved ones,” writes officials with BeADonor.ca.

To learn more about the HSP Program, visit the Canadian Blood Services website and to learn more about becoming an organ donor, visit BeADonor.ca.