Clinical decision analysis: Incorporating the evidence with patient preferences.

Decision analysis has become an increasingly popular decision-making tool with a multitude of clinical applications. Incorporating patient and expert preferences with available literature, it allows users to apply evidence-based medicine to make informed decisions when confronted with difficult clinical scenarios. A decision tree depicts potential alternatives and outcomes involved with a given decision.

Outcome of third renal allograft retransplants versus primary transplants from paired donors.

Background: Third kidney retransplants have technical and immunologic hurdles that may preclude success, which is of particular importance in the contemporary context of discrepancy between organ supply and demand.

Methods: The outcomes of third renal transplant recipients (TRTR) were compared with those receiving a first transplant from paired donor kidneys to assess transplant success and complication rates. The Ontario-based Trillium Gift of Life Network database was used to identify deceased donors (n=28) who donated one kidney to a TRTR and the mate kidney to a primary renal transplant recipient (PRTR) from June 1977 to August 2006.