Kidney Exchange in Dynamic Sparse Heterogenous Pools
Abstract
Current kidney exchange pools are of moderate size and thin, as they consist of many highly sensitized patients. Creating a thicker pool can be done by waiting for many pairs to arrive. We analyze a simple class of matching algorithms that search periodically for allocations. We find that if only 2-way cycles are conducted, in order to gain a significant amount of matches over the online scenario (matching each time a new incompatible pair joins the pool) the waiting period should be "very long". If 3-way cycles are also allowed we find regimes in which waiting for a short period also increases the number of matches considerably. Finally, a significant increase of matches can be obtained by using even one non-simultaneous chain while still matching in an online fashion. Our theoretical findings and data-driven computational experiments lead to policy recommendations.
Cite
@article{arxiv.1301.3509,
title = {Kidney Exchange in Dynamic Sparse Heterogenous Pools},
author = {Itai Ashlagi and Patrick Jaillet and Vahideh H. Manshadi},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1301.3509},
year = {2013}
}