[Extending the donor pool in renal transplantation].

The number of patients on the renal transplant waiting list has remained constantly high. In this article we highlight two strategies to extend the donor pool and focus on AB0 incompatible and cross-over renal transplantation. Increased immunologic knowledge and improved therapeutic management have facilitated successful AB0 incompatible renal transplantation with very good long-term results. However, this method has only been applied in very few German transplant centers and should be explored further. The term cross-over transplantation implies the exchange of organs between two otherwise incompatible couples enabling compatible transplantation in both couples. The German transplantation law allows only living transplantation in emotionally related couples. However, in specific cases of close interpersonal relationships cross-over transplantation between two couples is acceptable.