(AP) -- Computer programmers at the University of Michigan have launched a new kind of matchmaking.
Their software puts would-be kidney donor-recipient couples with incompatible tissue types together with other similar couples who are cross-compatible.
The university says the Kidney Paired Donation Transplant Program has made six such matches so far.
Multiple kidney transplants have been performed elsewhere, including an eight-kidney swap over three weeks in June and July that involved Detroit's Henry Ford Hospital and others.
Dr. Alan Leichtman directs the Michigan kidney program and says it's the largest of about a half dozen paired-kidney donation programs in the country.Net:
Video on transplant program: http://www2.med.umich.edu/prmc/media/newsroom/details.cfm?ID1303
(Copyright 2009 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
(Copyright ©2009 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
