Living donor kidney transplantation

Living donor kidney transplantation is the oldest technique of transplantation, that may help to solve the problem of organ shortage. In France, its part is minor as opposed to numerous other occidental countries. However, this strategy of transplantation gives the best results regarding the graft survival, without imposing a high level of risk to the donor, providing a rigorous selection has been performed. The French "Bioethique" law has recently been revised, offering a better organization and allowing to extend the donor panel to cousins, uncles/aunts, spouses etc. Recent data prove that these changes are helping to improve the activity that rose from 3.9% of transplantations in 1998 to 9% in 2006. (C) 2007 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.