Case Study: UT Southwestern Medical Center streamlines live-donor kidney selection by identifying size as the key predictor with Palisade @RISK

UT Southwestern Medical Center - Customer Case Study

UT Southwestern Medical Center investigated which living-donor kidney features (volume, split renal function and biopsy scores) most influence recipient renal function one year after transplant. Faced with limited real-world data (100 donors) and closely correlated variables, the team used Palisade’s @RISK to address clinical questions about acceptable anatomic asymmetry and whether split-function testing or biopsy add decision-making value.

Using Palisade’s @RISK to build a regression model and run 10,000-run Monte Carlo simulations that preserved variable correlations, the researchers showed donor kidney volume was the dominant predictor of one‑year eGFR and that split-function tests and implantation biopsies provided no additional predictive value. The simulations demonstrated only a small incremental risk with very low split function if adequate volume (≈2 mL/kg) is transplanted, giving clinicians a measurable, evidence-based rationale to favor preemptive living-donor transplants and to reconsider routine use of split renal function testing—results made possible by Palisade’s @RISK.

UT Southwestern Medical Center

Bekir Tanriover

Assistant Professor of Internal Medicine