Live from the consensus conference on "Optimal Testing of Live Donors to Prevent Transmission of Infectious Diseases"

What is the optimal testing strategy for testing live donors?

In a lecture given by Dr. Michael Ison, we can see that this is an area of great debate. We all agree that potential donors should have serology done for hepatitis b, hepatitis c, and HIV on initial visit. But should we repeat testing? Should we do repeat testing for everyone or should we repeat testing for high risk donors only? And what would this repeat testing mean? When is the optimal time to repeat this testing?
A suggestion was that possibly we can do repeat hepatitis B core and surface antigen testing, and nucleic acid testing for hcv and HIV. 7-14 weeks prior to surgery may be a good time to do these repeat testing.

Again, these tests can result in false positives, more costs, more patient anxiety, more visits and time spent to get blood drawn which can be looked at negatively.
More experience and studies are needed to tell us what exactly should be done. For now we need to follow our instincts and do what is best for the donor and recipient.