From October 8 through November 1, the OPTN/UNOS Liver and Intestinal Organ Transplantation Committee seeks public comment on a proposal to replace Donation Service Areas (DSAs) and regions in distribution policies for livers and intestinal organs.
The proposal would allocate livers to candidates within 150, 250, or 500 nautical miles (nm) of donor hospitals before offering them nationally, to allow for efficient placement of donor organs and to avoid organ wastage. Livers would be allocated to Status 1A and 1B candidates within 500nm first. Candidates with a Model for End-Stage Liver Disease (MELD) score of at least 32 would then be offered livers if they were within 250nm of the donor hospital. Then livers would be offered to candidates with a MELD of 15-31, first within 150nm, then within 250nm, then within 500nm. After that, livers would be offered to Status 1A and 1B candidates and candidates with MELD or PELD scores of at least 15 across the nation.
Comments and replies will be published on the OPTN public comment page, to promote transparency and trust in the national transplant system.
We encourage patients, transplant candidates and recipients, living donors, donor families and transplant professionals to learn more about the proposal and provide valuable feedback to help shape U.S. organ transplant policy.
