ISNA � Kidney transplant surgeon, Nasser Simforoosh stressed, currently the issue of kidney transplantation and the lack of available kidneys has become a great global problem.

Nasser Simforoosh is the chairman of the urology and kidney transplantation department at the Shahid Labbafinejad Medical Center in Tehran and the founder of the new and advanced method of kidney transplantation.

By transplanting from living unrelated donors, which is also known as �Iranian method of kidney transplantation�, Dr. Simforoosh has made Iran�s transplantation method as a significant model for countries across the world.

In an exclusive interview with ISNA, the surgeon insisted on the importance of living unrelated transplantation along with donation after brain dead.

�Iranian method of kidney transplantation is an honor for our country,� he added, �This method has domestic and foreign opponents and supporters and any slightest obstacle in the process would decrease our kidney transplantation rate by half, which is certainly followed by extension of waiting list, just like most of countries with high rate of death among dialyzed patients�.

�Beside other benefits of living transplantation, it is considerably affordable comparing with dialysis and it also decreases the side effects of dialysis and the rate of death,� the specialist went on to say.

�Despite baseless rumors, living donors receive the most medical supports and are released from hospital without any health problem,� he said.

�It is worth nothing that the lifespan of transplanted kidney from living donors is about 15 years, while it is about 10 years from brain-dead donors. The average lifetime of a living donor is more than whole community because the donor is chosen from healthy volunteers that have no issue in their health record,� Dr. Simforoosh noted.

�Today, there are more than 110 thousands of patients in US� kidney transplantation waiting list and each year between 5 to 7 thousands of them lose their life. While the waiting time for transplantation in US is between 4 to 12 years, in Iran it is between 6 months from living donors and 12 months from brain-dead donors,� he said.

The chairman of the urology and kidney transplantation department at the Shahid Labbafinejad Medical Center stated, �Most of European and American countries are facing grave lack of available kidney to the extent that annually about a thousand patients travel to countries such as Pakistan, Philippine and China from US to receive kidney�.

�With such honorable initiatives, today Iran has cheapest kidney transplantation and the best result of the world with 95 percent successful transplantations. The reports of our surgeries and their results are registered in the Collaborative Transplant Study (CTS) in Heidelberg University, Germany,� he went on to say.

He also insisted that the Iranian method of kidney transplantation is both legal and based on religious principles.

�Kidney transplantation in Iran is being conducted only in state hospitals and presenting the introduction letter from Kidney Foundation of Iran is required for the surgery,� Dr. Simforoosh said.

�One of the famous lecturers of US� Saint Louis University says �although we are opposed with Iran in political field, we�d better not to turn a blind eye and use Iran�s successful experience in saving the life of patients�. Professor John Barry from Oregon Health and Science University Department of Urology who is one of the biggest names of kidney transplantation in the globe also says �it may take about 10 years for Americans to reach a method same as Iran to avoid death of patients in the waiting list�.