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Groundbreaking Software Saving Lives By Connecting Kidney Donors, Patients

SAN FRANCISCO (KCBS) - Kidney transplants are taking a quantum leap forward at one Bay Area hospital thanks to a new cloud-based computer program that matches donors with recipients. That new software is precisely how California Pacific Medical Center is suddenly performing simultaneous transplants involving eight to ten patients.

At a news conference where the donors and recipients in CPMC's latest four-way kidney swap met each other, software developer David Jacobs - who was saved by a kidney transplant himself eight years ago - explained how he was inspired to create Silverstone Matchgrid.

"Being a recipient and living on this special time, I knew I had to do some special stuff," he reasoned. "In some respects this is the best application of technology versus sharing your thoughts with your friends on Facebook."

Jacobs said Matchgrid links kidney patients who might not survive, otherwise.

"What we're doing now, in some respects, really wouldn't be affordable or possible without some of this cloud computing. If I had to keep you know, hundreds of servers online, I couldn't afford to. Neither could the hospitals afford to do this."

KCBS' Doug Sovern Reports:

CPMC has done 17 transplants through the federal government's paired donation program, and an additional 44 using Jacobs' system - which is only available locally.

He hopes to encourage other medical centers to start using the system, too.

(Copyright 2012 by CBS San Francisco. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)

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