A Cumbernauld mum is highlighting a new UK-wide blood matching programme which could reduce transplant waiting times by cutting the risk of kidney rejection.
Patients will now receive "double-matched" blood, matched for both red and white cells, to reduce sensitisation and improve outcomes for kidney transplant recipients.
The scheme is designed to lower the development of antibodies that can lead to transplant rejection, a critical challenge for highly sensitised patients who may wait decades for a suitable donor.
Among those who could benefit is Johanna Bridges, 39, from Cumbernauld, who is severely sensitised after more than 15 blood transfusions and three previous kidney transplants.
Johanna, a community psychiatric nurse, has kidney failure due to focal segmental glomerulosclerosis, a condition that scars the kidney’s filtering units.
She has received transplants from a deceased donor in 1995, her mother in 2008, and her brother in 2012.
The mum-of-one has been told her chance of receiving another kidney within the next three years is less than 10%.
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Johanna said: "I feel like I am fighting for my life.
"I’m a 39-year-old mum.
"There are 7000 people who need kidney transplants.
"Due to my sensitisation, I feel like I don’t have a hope in hell of getting one.
"Matched blood like this is definitely a step in the right direction.
"Anything which can stop the number of antibodies from increasing, especially for younger people who might need several transplants.
"I would urge people to support organ donation, including altruistic donation – donation literally saves lives when people have kidney failure.
"There are younger people desperate for their lives."
The new blood matching programme is expected to prevent up to 100 kidney transplant rejections each year and reduce the number of people waiting long-term for a transplant.
Blood transfusions are common in kidney patients whose damaged kidneys can no longer produce enough erythropoietin, a protein that stimulates red blood cell production.
Standard transfusions, however, contain small amounts of white blood cells that present human leukocyte antigen (HLA) proteins.
If these HLA types differ from the patient’s, their immune system may develop antibodies against them.
These HLA antibodies can trigger rejection of a transplanted kidney, particularly in patients who are already sensitised.
Around 38% of kidney transplant recipients develop HLA antibodies after receiving standard red blood cell transfusions.
Dr Colin Brown, consultant clinical scientist at NHS Blood and Transplant and scientific lead for histocompatibility and immunogenetics, said: "Blood transfusions save lives but for people on the transplant waiting list they carry a particular risk.
"By providing a new service to the wider NHS where we double match blood for white cells as well as red cells, we can reduce kidney rejection, and help stop so many people waiting many years for a match or even dying before they receive one.
"Innovation like this will help us meet out ambition of a world where everyone has the opportunity of getting transplant, where indicated."
The programme is particularly important for patients from non-European backgrounds, who are more likely to receive mismatched transfusions due to differences in tissue types.
It will also benefit women sensitised during pregnancy.
NHS Blood and Transplant is implementing the £1.37 million programme across English hospitals and working with partner blood services in other UK nations.
All 24 kidney transplant centres will eventually adopt the scheme.
Full rollout follows a successful pilot at Hammersmith Hospital and other sites, which showed that double-matched transfusions prevented the development of new HLA antibodies.
Once fully implemented, the programme will require around 4,000 units of double-matched blood each year and rely on at least 130,000 genotyped blood donors.
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Dr Michelle Willicombe, a consultant nephrologist at Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust, is the transplant nephrology lead for the UK-wide programme and also worked on the initial pilot.
She said: "The roll-out is really positive news for kidney transplant patients, which I hope will help address health inequalities, reduce waiting times and ultimately save lives.
"The clinical consequences of developing HLA antibodies can be devastating and lead to a transplant failing.
"But we’ve seen in our pilot how blood matching can reduce the risk."
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