Consensus Conferences
As a leader in the care and support of living donors, National Kidney Foundation continues to organize and participate in consensus conferences on issues related to living donation and transplantation. The goal of these conferences is to address emerging issues and to develop guidelines and standards of practice for the care of donors and recipients.
Representatives from all areas of the transplant community participate in consensus conferences, which are by invitation-only. On the first day, conference attendees meet in small work groups to discuss different aspects of the topic at hand. Participants include transplant surgeons, transplant physicians, transplant coordinators, social workers, recipients and candidates, ethicists, researchers, living donors, and others. On the last day of the conference, the work groups convene to share their recommendations with the group. This session is generally open to the public. After the conference, recommended guidelines are developed for publication.
Past Conferences
- Consensus Conference on Living Donation
- Consensus Conference on Non-Directed Donation
- National Conference on the Wait List for Kidney Transplantation
- National Conference to Assess Antibody-Mediated Rejection in Solid Organ Transplantation
- Transplantation in the Diabetic Patient With Advanced Chronic Kidney Disease: A Task Force Report
Reports from An International Forum on the Care of the Live Kidney Donor:
- The Consensus Statement of the Amsterdam Forum on the Care of the Live Kidney Donor(short version)*
- The Amsterdam Forum: Care of the Live Kidney Donor (long version) *
Consensus Conference on Early Kidney Transplantation:
Kidney Transplantation as Primary Therapy for End-Stage Renal Disease: A National Kidney Foundation/Kidney Disease Outcomes Quality Initiative (NKF/KDOQI) Conference
INTRODUCTION
The National Kidney Foundation convened a Kidney Disease Outcomes Quality Initiative (KDOQI) conference in Washington, DC, March 19 through 20, 2007, to examine the issue. Fifty-two participants representing transplant centers, dialysis providers, and payers were divided into three work groups to address the impact of early transplantation on the chronic kidney disease paradigm, educational needs of patients and professionals, and finances of renal replacement therapy.
RESULTS
Participants explored the benefits of early transplantation on costs and outcomes, identified current barriers (at multiple levels) that impede access to early transplantation, and recommended specific interventions to overcome those barriers.
CONCLUSIONS
With implementation of early education, referral to a transplant center coincident with creation of vascular access, timely transplant evaluation, and identification of potential living donors, early transplantation can be an option for substantially more patients with chronic kidney disease.
CONFERENCE PUBLICATION
A report of the meeting was published in the Clinical Journal of the American Society of Nephrology. A PDF of the report can be found here ( PDF )
