On January 4 1999, the Eurotransplant Senior Program (ESP) was implemented within the Eurotransplant kidney allocation scheme. This program has been developed because of an increasing number of older donors and recipients.
The ESP allocates kidneys from post-mortem donors of 65 years and older to recipients of 65 years and older without the use of a donor HLA typing. The ESP aims at a cold ischaemic period (CIP) that is as short as possible.
Kidneys from an ESP donor that cannot be allocated locally or regionally are allocated through the regular kidney allocation (ETKAS) after reporting of the HLA typing.