chain of human kidneys

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/health/article2141383.ece

Above is a New York Times article on the chain of human kidneys that we discussed in class today. I found this application of networks very interesting and am glad to see that some of the networking methods we learn in class can be applied to sorcial situations such as these. It is surprising that this simple applications of human kidney donors has not been applied earlier. I very much liked reading more about this method because it is a simple way of using network strategies discussed in class to make significant improvements in society.
From each donor's perspective, they are playing their dominant strategy by finding a donor who is willing to give up one of their kidney for the ones they knows. Whether this kidneys goes to the loved one or to another person in need does not matter as long as the loved one is saved as a result.
However, as we discussed in class, this system might not be as ideal as it sound. Since there are very few altruistic people who would give up their kidneys through an operation in which 3 out of 10 000 people die, some might change their minds after their loved one receives a kidney. In addition, it might be difficult for doctors to find the perfect flow networks in which all donors can be pleased at the right time.
I would recommend reading this article to anyone who is interested in finding out more about this chain method of kidney donations.

Cool article. The article mentioned the “high tech computer code” of the Alliance for Paired Donation makes possible their paired donation scheme. So here are some sites that give more information of paired kidney donation algorithms.

New England Program for Kidney Exchange (NEPKE), which I think we discussed in class, takes in medical information about the donor and the recipient and determines whether the exchange is possible. There’s an easy-to-follow demonstration of this on their website (http://www.nepke.org/theprogram.htm)

Computer scientists at Carnegie Mellon developed a program that make possible three and four way exchanges (http://www.aip.org/dbis/stories/2007/17116.html)