Paying It Forward

Tulane surgeons performed what is believed to be the first “domino” paired-donor kidney exchange in Louisiana at Tulane Medical Center. Three patients in dire need of a kidney transplant received new organs from people they had never met.

The three kidney recipients stand with their donors sitting in front of them when they met for the first time on June 3. Back row (left to right) are Reneé Credeur-Bergeron, “Mr. J” and Larry Landry. Front row (left to right) are Tamara Greene, Darla Larson and “Mrs. J.” (Photo by Paula Burch-Celentano)

The kidney transplants on May 25 and 26 involved one altruistic donor, two paired-exchange donors and three recipients. A paired-donor exchange, also known as a kidney swap, occurs when patients needing a kidney transplant swap willing donors. A domino exchange is achieved by including a compatible altruistic donor.

“An altruistic donor is someone who comes forward out of the goodness of their heart to donate an organ,” explained Dr. Anil Paramesh, a surgeon with the Tulane Abdominal Transplant program. “After two years of searching for paired-exchanged matches on our transplant list, we were able to find a successful pattern of transplants because of altruistic donor Tamara Greene.”

Greene, of Jayess, Miss., made the selfless act to donate a kidney after watching her uncle battle renal failure. She gave one of her kidneys to Reneé Creduer-Bergeron, a mother of two from Baton Rouge, La.

Creduer-Bergeron's good friend and co-worker Darla Larson, who was medically eligible to donate a kidney but was incompatible with Creduer-Bergeron, then donated a kidney to “Mr. J.” Mr. J's wife, another willing donor who was unable to donate to her husband, in return donated a kidney to Larry Landry of Welsh, La. Landry had been on the kidney transplant waiting list for five years.

“The goal of a domino paired-donor exchange is to make optimal use of willing living donors, while helping potential recipients,” said Paramesh, an assistant professor of surgery and urology. Because Greene came forward as an altruistic donor, three patients received new kidneys. Creduer-Bergeron and Mr. J were spared from joining the other 1,700 people on the Louisiana state kidney transplant waiting list.

Sarah Balyeat is communications coordinator at Tulane Medical Center.