The Donor App for Kidney Failure

Recruiting at 6 trial locations

Overseen By Andrew Cameron, MD PhD

Age: 18+

Sex: Any

Trial Phase: Academic

Sponsor: Johns Hopkins University

Disqualifiers: Under 18, Multiple organ lists

No Placebo Group All trial participants will receive the active study treatment (no placebo)

Approved in 1 Jurisdiction This treatment is already approved in other countries

Compensation: Varies

Number of Visits: Unknown

1000 Participants Needed

What You Need to Know Before You Apply

What is the purpose of this trial?

This trial tests a new app, The Donor App, designed to help individuals waiting for a kidney or liver transplant find living donors. The app enables patients to share their need for a donor on social media and allows potential donors to begin the donation process. It targets those currently on a kidney-only or liver-only transplant waiting list. As an unphased trial, this study provides patients with a unique opportunity to participate in innovative research that could simplify the process of finding a living donor.

Do I need to stop my current medications for this trial?

The trial information does not specify whether you need to stop taking your current medications.

What prior data suggests that the Donor App is safe for patients on the organ transplant waitlist?

Research shows that The Donor App is a digital tool designed to help kidney transplant patients find living donors. As a web-based tool, it doesn't carry the same safety concerns as medications. Instead, it simplifies the process of finding a kidney donor.

Specific safety data on the app itself is unavailable because it doesn't physically affect the body. However, it plays a role in the well-researched kidney donation process. Studies have shown that less than 1% of living kidney donors experience kidney failure after donating, indicating that kidney donation is generally safe for donors. The app aims to improve communication and help more patients connect with potential donors, without altering the medical safety of kidney donation.

The app's safety involves managing personal data, which isn't detailed here but typically focuses on securely handling information. Overall, The Donor App enhances the efficiency of a process already considered safe for most donors. ^{1 2 3 4 5}

Why are researchers excited about this trial?

The Donor App is unique because it leverages technology to streamline the process of finding kidney donors for patients with kidney failure. Unlike traditional options that rely on manual matching and lengthy wait times, this app connects potential donors and recipients more efficiently through a secure and user-friendly platform. Researchers are excited about this trial because it could significantly reduce the time patients spend waiting for a compatible donor, making the transplant process faster and more accessible.

What evidence suggests that the Donor App is effective for kidney failure?

Studies have shown that kidney transplantation is the best treatment for people with severe kidney disease. Research indicates that it not only helps people live longer but also improves their quality of life compared to other treatments. This trial tests The Donor App, an innovative tool designed to help patients find potential living donors through social media. Early results suggest that better matching between donors and patients can reduce transplant failures and improve survival rates. Although the app is new, it aims to support proven methods that increase successful kidney transplants, greatly benefiting patients. ^{6 7 8 9 10}

Who Is on the Research Team?

Andrew Cameron, MD PhD

Principal Investigator

Johns Hopkins University

Are You a Good Fit for This Trial?

This trial is for adults over 18 who are on the waiting list for a kidney or liver transplant at a participating center. It's not open to those under 18, not on the transplant waitlist, or waiting for multiple organ transplants.

Inclusion Criteria

I am on the waiting list for a kidney or liver transplant at a participating center.

Exclusion Criteria

I am under 18 years old.

I am not waiting for a kidney or liver transplant.

You are on waiting lists for transplants for more than one organ.

Timeline for a Trial Participant

Screening

Participants are screened for eligibility to participate in the trial

2-4 weeks

Implementation

Participants use the Donor App to create and share their story via social media to identify potential live donors

Indefinite

Follow-up

Participants are monitored for the success of the Donor App in identifying live donors and facilitating live donor transplantation

Up to 5 years

What Are the Treatments Tested in This Trial?

Interventions

• The Donor App

Trial Overview The study is testing 'The Donor App', which is designed to help patients in need of an organ transplant use social media to find living donors and allows potential donors to start the evaluation process.

How Is the Trial Designed?

Group I: The Donor App Experimental Treatment 1 Intervention

Select physicians and research staff from about 15 transplant hospitals will be given access to distribute the application to patients who the above people feel could benefit from the application. After obtaining informed consent, an approved member of the study team will enter the participant's name, contact info, and organ needed into the Donor App's secure management portal to send an email or text message with a unique and protected invitation link to the participant. Using this link the participant will be allowed to use the Donor App indefinitely.

The Donor App is already approved in United States for the following indications:

Approved in United States as DONOR for:

• Organ transplant waitlist management
• Living donor identification

Who Is Running the Clinical Trial?

Johns Hopkins University

Lead Sponsor

Trials

2,366

Recruited

15,160,000+

Rush University Medical Center

Collaborator

Trials

448

Recruited

247,000+

Scripps Health

Collaborator

Trials

59

Recruited

43,400+

Yale University

Collaborator

Trials

1,963

Recruited

3,046,000+

Washington University School of Medicine

Collaborator

Trials

2,027

Recruited

2,353,000+

MaineHealth

Collaborator

Trials

76

Recruited

43,800+

Published Research Related to This Trial

In a 1-year study involving 182 outpatients with advanced chronic kidney disease (CKD), the eKidneyCare app significantly reduced medication discrepancies compared to the MyMedRec app, indicating better medication management.

eKidneyCare not only lowered the total number of discrepancies but also reduced the severity of clinically relevant discrepancies, including those that could potentially cause serious harm, highlighting its effectiveness in improving medication safety for high-risk patients.

NCBI (Pubmed)

pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

Digital Applications Targeting Medication Safety in Ambulatory High-Risk CKD Patients: Randomized Controlled Clinical Trial. Ong, SW., Jassal, SV., Porter, EC., et al.[2023]

The NefroPortatil mobile app significantly improved self-management of chronic kidney disease in 52 dialysis patients over a 3-month period, as indicated by a notable change in the Perceived Medical Condition Self-Management Scale (P < 0.03).

Laboratory results showed a significant reduction in serum phosphorus levels (P < 0.04) after using the app, suggesting it effectively aids in nutritional control for patients undergoing dialysis.

NCBI (Pubmed)

pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

Development and Validation of an Application for Follow-up of Patients Undergoing Dialysis: NefroPortátil. Pinto, LCS., Andrade, MC., Chaves, RO., et al.[2021]

Out of 823 downloads of the renal health application, only 12.3% were registered kidney transplant recipients, indicating limited engagement with the app among this population.

Although the app generated interest, with 36.7% of users entering health data like weight and creatinine levels, most users only engaged for a short time, highlighting challenges in long-term adherence to mHealth technologies in kidney transplantation.

NCBI (Pubmed)

pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

Evaluation of the use of a Renal Health application by kidney transplant recipients. Oliveira, JGR., Sanders-Pinheiro, H., Freitas Filho, RA., et al.[2023]

The SMASK intervention, a mobile health self-management system, aims to improve medication adherence and blood pressure control in kidney transplant recipients, with a study involving 80 participants over 6 months.

If successful, SMASK could lead to better health outcomes for kidney transplant recipients and set the stage for larger studies to confirm its effectiveness in real-world settings.

NCBI (Pubmed)

pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

"Smartphone Medication Adherence Saves Kidneys" for Kidney Transplantation Recipients: Protocol for a Randomized Controlled Trial. McGillicuddy, J., Chandler, J., Sox, L., et al.[2020]

A telehealth app developed for kidney transplant follow-up was found to be easy to use and valuable for both patients and healthcare professionals, enhancing communication and support during post-transplant care.

The app facilitated better preparation and dialogue in consultations, indicating its potential to improve patient outcomes and collaboration in clinical practice, although further adjustments and investigations are needed.

NCBI (Pubmed)

pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

Evaluation of a telehealth solution developed to improve follow-up after kidney Transplantation. Nielsen, C., Agerskov, H., Bistrup, C., et al.[2020]

Technology-based interventions (TBI) can significantly enhance awareness and knowledge about living donor kidney transplantation (LDKT), particularly among African American and Hispanic populations, which have seen a decline in LDKT rates.

In a review of 31 studies, 60% of patient-facing TBIs and 75% of donor-facing TBIs showed increased linkage between potential donors and transplant candidates, indicating that customized and accessible TBI can effectively connect these groups.

NCBI (Pubmed)

pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

Impact of technology-based interventions on linking potential kidney donors and transplant candidates: a scoping review. Deshpande, PP., Jariwala, S., Martin, L., et al.[2022]

A smartphone-based application was developed to predict kidney transplant survival for patients with End-Stage Renal Disease, utilizing data from 513 patient records and achieving an accuracy of 87.21% with the C5.0 data mining algorithm.

The application received positive usability ratings from urologists and nephrologists, indicating it is user-friendly and can be reliably used to assist in predicting graft survival in kidney transplantation.

NCBI (Pubmed)

pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

Predicting the survival of kidney transplantation: design and evaluation of a smartphone-based application. Shahmoradi, L., Borhani, A., Langarizadeh, M., et al.[2022]

A prototype mobile health (mHealth) system for kidney transplant patients significantly improved medication adherence and reduced systolic blood pressure compared to standard care, demonstrating its potential effectiveness in managing hypertension.

The system was found to be safe and highly acceptable among patients and providers, with a high retention rate of 91% during the 3-month trial involving 20 participants, indicating strong feasibility for future larger studies.

NCBI (Pubmed)

pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

Mobile Health Medication Adherence and Blood Pressure Control in Renal Transplant Recipients: A Proof-of-Concept Randomized Controlled Trial. McGillicuddy, JW., Gregoski, MJ., Weiland, AK., et al.[2022]

Out of 543 serious adverse events reported in organ donation from 2016 to 2022, 53 cases (9.8%) were identified as proven or probable transmissions of diseases to recipients, highlighting the importance of monitoring disease transmission in organ transplantation.

Infections were the most common type of disease transmission, and the mortality rate among recipients who received infected organs was notably high at 23%, with a particularly alarming 50% mortality rate when malignant diseases were transmitted.

NCBI (Pubmed)

pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

Vigilance Data in Organ Donation and Solid Organ Transplantation in Germany: Six Years of Experience 2016-2022. Böhler, K., Rahmel, A., Barreiros, AP.[2023]

In a study of 267 predialysis patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD), 69.3% experienced at least one adverse safety event, highlighting the high risk of complications in this population.

The most common adverse events reported were hypoglycemia in diabetic patients and hyperkalemia (high potassium levels), with significant co-occurrences of these events, indicating a need for better safety monitoring in CKD patients.

NCBI (Pubmed)

pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

Patient-reported and actionable safety events in CKD. Ginsberg, JS., Zhan, M., Diamantidis, CJ., et al.[2021]

Citations

1. pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC12344388/

Using Linked Health Service Data in Multimodal Modeling of ... In addition, we hypothesize that increasing donor acceptance will also prove to both benefit patients with kidney failure and be cost-effective.

2. pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC11475881/

Advancing Kidney Transplantation: A Machine Learning ... Kidney transplantation is the only curative therapy for patients with end-stage renal failure [1,2]. It has a beneficial impact on returning ...

3. tandfonline.com tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/0886022X.2024.2373273

Improved survival prediction for kidney transplant ... It also suggests enhanced donor-recipient matching in kidney transplantation, reducing graft failure rates and increasing survival chances.

4. frontierspartnerships.org frontierspartnerships.org/journals/transplant-international/articles/10.3389/ti.2025.14596/full

Optimizing the Use of Deceased Donor Kidneys at Risk of ... Kidney transplantation remains the preferred treatment for patients with end stage kidney disease (ESKD), leading to improved life expectancy ...

5. jamanetwork.com jamanetwork.com/journals/jamanetworkopen/fullarticle/2797181

Survival Benefit of Deceased Donor Kidney ... ... patients with kidney failure who undergo kidney transplant vs those who receive. ... Cost-effectiveness analysis of renal replacement ...

6. pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC4089229/

Living Kidney Donation: The Outcomes for Donors - PMC The overall evidence suggests that the risk of end-stage kidney disease is not increased in donors, however, mild renal failure, hypertension and proteinuria ...

7. sciencedirect.com sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2949813924000739

Evaluation and Long-Term Follow-Up of Living Kidney ... Henderson, et al. Association of early Postdonation renal function with subsequent risk of end-stage renal disease in living kidney donors. JAMA surgery, 155 ...

8. nejm.org nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMoa1510491

Kidney-Failure Risk Projection for the Living Kidney-Donor ... The Chronic Kidney Disease Prognosis Consortium (CKD-PC) Data ... Preserved Kidney Function and Renal Recovery in Living Kidney Donors ...

9. mayoclinicproceedings.org mayoclinicproceedings.org/article/S0025-6196(22)00368-8/fulltext

Long-term Medical Outcomes of Living Kidney Donors Long term metabolic and renal outcomes of kidney donors compared to controls with excellent kidney function. BMC Nephrol. 2019; 20:30.

10. kidney.org kidney.org/kidney-topics/long-term-risks-living-donation

Long-Term Risks of Living Donation Kidney Disease Outcomes Quality Initiative (KDOQI); Apps & Tools ... Less than 1% of living donors develop kidney failure after donation.