Area Couple Creates Formula To Aid Kidney Donation

Kellye Lynn Reporting

January 27, 2006

(WJZ) -- Baltimore, Md. -- Dorry Segev and Summer Gentry never thought that they would be working together.

Dorry is a kidney transplant surgeon at Johns Hopkins and his wife Summer is a mathematician at the United States Naval Academy.

The two were happily married and thought that the only thing that they would be managing together would be Charm City Swing. Their hobby was ranked this year by Baltiomore Magazine as the number one reason to go out on Monday nights.

But Dr. Segev was uneasy at work. Many wait years, if they are fortunate enough-- before ever receiving a kidney. But Dr. Segev believe transplant list organized on a national level could allow more people to receive life-saving kidneys.

"If you just pair people haphazardly one by one", says Dr. Segev. "You can actually lose opportunities for people that would have been realized".

But it was a drive home from work that led to a discussion that transformed into a formula that may one day save thousands of lives.

"I picked Dorry up from work one day," said Summer. "And he said Summer this is how we are matching pairs for paired donations and I know there must be some better way of doing it."

From Hopkins to Fells Point, the two soon began thinking about ways to shorten the waits for kidney recipients.

60,000 people are on the national United Network for Organ Sharing registry. The couple knew that they could put a significant dent in these numbers.

The two spent months and created an optimization mathematical formula.

"We created a virtual population a simulated database of patients but we had confidence that they looked like the real population who needed donors", says Summer.

Trying to input real world variables such as blood type and family relations was tough, but after a few months Segev and Gentry were able to comprise a concrete study to be published in the Journal of American Medical Association. The results they found were also startling.

According to the study of an optimized, transplant-matching algorithm used nationally, a higher number of transplants performed.

For example, highly sensitized patients, who are extremely difficult to match and wait usually almost 7 years for a deceased donor, would benefit almost six-fold from the algorithm.

They also found that a nationally coordinated system would also cut down travel time for compatible and incompatible couples dramatically.

The savings, according to the study, would also significantly reduce health care cost. The findings showed that if only 7% of patients awaiting kidney transplantation participated in the kidney-paired donation program, the health care system could save as much as $750 million.

Even more startling, the authors write, "Our simulations suggest that approximately 47 percent of incompatible pairs could be matched through an optimized national KPD program."

Although the results have not been nearly this dramatic, the couples formula still draws attention.

32 patients have received kidneys using the system at Hopkins alone(60 nationwide), but it is the CBS hit Numb3rs that has put this Baltimore couple in the spotlight.

"We don't watch much TV," says Dr. Segev jokingly while looking at his wife. "But my wife says that a lot of her teacher friends watch and are excited about the show".

Summer's friends aren't the only ones excited about the show.

Numb3rs is the most popular show on Friday night prime time television drawing as many as 14 million viewers.

While the two both plan on watching Friday's show, their motivations are different.

For Dr. Segev the show is a means to an end. "What we hope is that we have nationwide exposure to organ donation and education about organ donation", says Dorry.

But for Summer, while being on Numb3rs is nice, something else has given her more satisfaction.

"Being able to go into my Calculus classroom and say major in math, because you can save lives...that has made all the difference".

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Copyright © 2006 CBS Broadcasting Inc.

This article posted February 20, 2006.