First-Accept Match

First-Accept Match is a term for the scheme that is currently used for KPD. The idea is simple: match a new donor/recipient pair to the first compatible donor/recipient pair that can be found.

First-Accept Match

The most straight-forward way to match KPD pairs. Whenever a new pair comes into the system, find the first one that matches and perform the transplant. See below for why this scheme is not the best choice.

The problem with First-Accept Match is a little bit subtle. In practice, some pairs can easily match with many other pairs (such as a pair with a blood type "O" donor who can donate to any other blood type). On the other hand, some pairs are compatible with only a handful of others with very specific characteristics (such as a recipient who is blood type "O" who can only accept organs from blood type "O" donors). With First-Accept Match, this cannot be taken into consideration. The following situation illustrates the problem:
First-Accept Match finds only one match
Optimized Match looks at all possibilities and finds the most matches possible

The Problem

With First-Accept Match, Pair 1 matches the center pair because it's the first one that matches. Pair 2 does not get matched, even though a solution exists that matches both 1 and 2.

The solution is to use a better algorithm for matching compatible pairs. In fact, Optimized Match is guaranteed to give us the most and best matches possible for any criteria we choose.

Optimization >>