New System Improves Distribution of Donated Livers

(HealthDay News) -- Thanks to a new liver transplant allocation system that gives preference to patients with the greatest need, rather than time spent on a waiting list, racial disparities among those waiting for new livers are narrowing.

Blacks are no longer much more likely to die or become too sick for a transplant while on the waiting list, although there are still noticeable gender gaps, according to the study published in the Nov. 26 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association.

The new MELD (Model for End-Stage Liver Disease) scoring system was introduced in 2002.

"Post-MELD, the disparity between blacks and whites went away," said Dr. Cynthia A. Moylan, lead author of the study and a transplant hepatology fellow at Duke University Medical Center in Durham, N.C. "The sickest patients get" the organs, she said.

The study is the first comprehensive look at the success of the new system.Read more...

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