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<\/a><\/p>\nTackling this challenge is United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS), a non-profit organization responsible for allocating available organs to waitlisted patients in the U.S. With the digitalization of medical information, UNOS now relies on an internet-based system called DonorNet, which compares data between the donor and the patient, including weight, blood type, and geographical location. The algorithm tries to objectively rank viable patients based on illness and likelihood of a successful outcome. In UNOS\u2019s ideal scenario, every viable organ is transplanted to a waitlisted patient.<\/p>\n
But like with many critical decisions, subjectivity creeps in. For the sake of equality, UNOS\u2019s current matching system disregards ethnicity, gender, and financial status [3]. Yet, these are critical factors that can impact organ transplant success [4]. As a surgeon evaluates the DonorNet results, she must ultimately resort to experience and intuition to accept or decline the available organ [5, 6]. Unfortunately, experience-based \u201calgorithms\u201d are subject to the inexactitudes that afflict anecdotal decision-making. Recent studies have shown that utilization of the existing supply is poor, with donor organ discard rate exceeding as much as 40 percent in some instances [7, 8, 9]. It\u2019s at this intersection of quasi-numerical assessment of a patient\u2019s health factors and gut instinct where intelligent exploration of large datasets of patient characteristics and organ supply cycles can assist in this complex decision-making process.<\/p>\n
Overwhelmed by the ambiguity and diversity of relevant data, UNOS has been slow to restructure its allocation algorithms. In 2014, after spending nearly 10 years feuding between surgeons, patient advocates, and policymakers, UNOS released a revised metric for kidney allocation [10]. In an effort to make access more equitable and increase the utilization of kidneys, UNOS digitized a continuous stream of data, integrating time on dialysis, current diabetes status, and whether the candidate had a previous organ transplant [3]. Although there has been a moderate increase in procedures, the procurement of donor organs as well as the discard rate has seen little to no improvement [11, 12]. Under its current system, DonorNet will require years of data collection before an appropriate evaluation can be done. It seems prudent, then, that UNOS continue to increase transparency of available organs and reduce lead times for existing supply to incrementally increase utilization.<\/p>\n