The Kidney Transplant Process Model (KTPM): Simulation Tool for the Transplant Process

摘要

The Kidney Transplant Process Model (KTPM) was created to demonstrate the kidney transplant process from initial placement on the waiting list to life post-transplant. The KTPM focuses on the effects of donor availability on the complete transplant process with a specific concentration on ethnicity. The model was designed as a tool for analyzing the transplant process and its outcomes and is supplemented with the database from the Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network (OPTN) and reports [14, 16, 13]. Experiments with this model have shown that if changes are not made to the kidney transplant process, the waiting list will continue to grow in the future. While increases in the availability of donors are not likely to entirely eliminate the waiting list in the near term, these solutions could help to decrease the size of the list. A specific increase in living donor transplants in minorities would also help to decrease the size of the waiting list for kidney transplants. The KTPM is an effective and efficient way to model the waiting activity of the waiting list over time. This model can be used to simulate and predict the effects of various changes to the current transplant system.