People who donate a kidney while in the prime of their lives generally go on to live longer than the average man, a leading expert claimed last night.

Nephrologist Dr. Harald Mackenzie said he hoped to see more and more live donors come forward in Bermuda to assist their friends and family who suffer from kidney failure, with the help of public awareness.

He said there were new techniques available that meant donors were not in hospital for as long, or off work for such long periods, after donating one of their kidneys.

The specialist said losing a kidney did not shorten your life or jeopardise your health, provided the donor was fit and healthy in the first place.

And Dr. Mackenzie said common belief that people on kidney transplant lists could only receive a live organ transplant from a family member were far from true.

Anyone can be a donor, provided they are super fit and healthy and aged 25 or over.

Dr. Mackenzie, who moved to Bermuda in January this year after working for several years at the Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston, said live kidney donation was a much better option than a cadaver donation.

He said studies had shown that kidneys taken from cadaver patients, although very successful, did not last quite as long as kidneys from live donors. The reason, he said, could be that events associated with brain death some how damaged the kidney, or made it more likely to run into problems after transplant.

"With donors at the extremes of age, things don't always go as well, but apart from that, a kidney from a live donor can function for almost 20 years, which is twice as long as a kidney from a cadaver donor," said Dr. Mackenzie.

"And donors, on average, live longer than the average age of the population, too. They have so many tests beforehand, looking at their health history, they must be superfit in order to be considered. The fact that they go on to live longer than the average age attests to the kind of care that people have taken in selecting kidney donors."

Dr. Mackenzie said, for whatever reason, many people chose not to donate a kidney to their loved one suffering kidney failure. It can mean years on a dialysis machine or waiting on a transplant list.

Some people are afraid there may be some pain, others do not want to go sick from work for a while, and others are prevented from doing so by the kidney sufferer themselves.

Quite often, patients do not wish to put their loved ones through it.

But the nephrologist said medicine and technology had come so far these days, that the whole transplant experience was becoming less of a trauma.

He said: "Recent developments in surgery are quite important because it's possible now to take the kidney from the donor without doing the usual incision, which used to be needed and involved taking out a rib.

"Instead, they can do it with laparoscopes, so the recovery time can be a matter of days, rather than weeks.

"With the old way, the recipients were more mobile than the donors themselves. It's not suitable for everyone, but the alternative way does not have such an impact on the donor."

Dr. Mackenzie said a live donor would have to undergo a series of tests to make sure they were compatible with the recipient. That means tissue typing, taking blood samples and having image studies carried out to ensure the anatomy of both people was similar. Kidneys can vary, as can the anatomy of individuals.

If any of the factors do not match, then the transplant will not go ahead. And similarly, if the donor wishes to pull out at any stage whatsoever, they are free to do so.

But equally, if doctors believe the donor is feeling unduly obligated to provide a kidney, or is showing any signs of ambivalence, they may suggest the transplant be called off.

"Even after going through all the stages of evaluation, the donors have the opportunity to exit gracefully if they change their minds. We never want to put pressure on the donors. It is very important that people understand that, " he added.

Dr. Mackenzie said at the moment in Bermuda, there were three potential live kidney donors.

He added: "Once there are more people on the Island who have donated it's likely that public awareness will increase and people will be less hesitant in coming forward. I think it is something that gradually picks up momentum. We are certainly hoping it will."

For more information, call the dialysis unit on 239-2028.