Program for hard-to-match kidney transplant patients yielding success

A new program is improving the chances of kidney transplants for hard-to-match patients.

The Highly Sensitized Patient (HSP) program officially launched today at St Paul's Hospital in Saskatoon.

The program is an important milestone in improving access to transplants for patients who are difficult to match with a donor kidney due to their high levels of sensitising antibodies.

The patients, known as 'highly sensitized' have developed antibodies that would attack a transplanted kidney unless the organ is precisely matched.

Until recently, such patients had access to a limited number of donors in their region. Through the HSP program this group of patients now has access to a larger national donor pool, dramatically increasing the chance of a match.

"I was told it was a one in a billion match," Debbie Posehn said.

Posehn, who is from Nipawin, said she waited for nearly three and a half years for a kidney. Then in October 2013 she was added to the HSP registry and received a kidney just over a year later.

"My family and I are truly grateful to the donor family for this incredible gift they have given us. They will always be in our thoughts," Posehn said.

The HSP program started in Saskatchewan and Manitoba in October 2013 and by November 2014 all provinces and territories had joined.

To date, the national initiative has yielded 111 kidney transplants in Canada, including four in Saskatchewan.