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We Wait Too Long to Refer Patients for Transplantation
Author(s) -
Peev Vasil
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
seminars in dialysis
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.899
H-Index - 78
eISSN - 1525-139X
pISSN - 0894-0959
DOI - 10.1111/sdi.12497
Subject(s) - medicine , referral , transplantation , intensive care medicine , kidney disease , renal replacement therapy , end stage renal disease , kidney transplantation , disease , nephrology , family medicine
Late referral of patients with chronic kidney disease ( CKD ) and end‐stage renal disease ( ESRD ) for evaluation of kidney transplantation is common. Even though renal transplantation offers a clear survival benefit to patients with advanced CKD and ESRD and should be considered the renal replacement therapy of choice, numerous barriers to early renal transplant referral have been observed. Some of these barriers can be overcome by improving the communication between the referring providers and the transplant centers. Furthermore, providing more intensive education to both patients and referring providers with regard to the eligibility of CKD and ESRD patients for a transplant will likely result in higher referral rates. This in turn will lead to improved survival outcomes in this group of patients with otherwise significantly increased morbidity and mortality.