Criteria for evaluating potential transplant recipients vary among centers, physicians

ADVANCED AGE or a history of noncompliance, cardiovascular disease, or viral hepatitis may disqualify some patients for renal transplantation at some centers, yet a recent study reveals that not all centers look askance at these conditions. Transplantation centers in the United States use a wide range of criteria in evaluating potential recipients, according to a study of the 182 transplant centers that participate in the United Network for Organ Sharing. Furthermore, transplant physicians differ markedly on these issues, particularly regarding the ethical questions that have assumed such import as the demand for organs continues to rise far beyond the supply. The transplant-center study was conducted by the Patient Care and Education Committee of the American Society of Transplant Physicians and presented at the society's annual meeting, held last month in Houston, Tex. In general, the investigators found that university-based centers (as opposed to private centers) and centers that perform larger