Studies which evaluated the medical outcomes of commercial transplantation were eligible for inclusion. Case reports and abstracts were excluded.
In the included studies, commercial kidney transplant was compared with unspecified, non-commercial, live-related transplant donors and cadaver transplant. Recipients of transplants came from Taiwan, Malaysia, Canada, USA, UK, Australia, Israel, Turkey, Macedonia, Kosovo, Saudi Arabia, Iran, Kuwait, United Arab Emirates, Oman and Qatar. The country/region providing donor transplant included China, Pakistan, Iran, India, Iraq, Nepal, Egypt, South Asia, East Asia and the Middle East. Immunosuppressive protocols varied between studies. Details of recipient or donor characteristics were not reported. Outcomes reported were patient survival, graft survival, infections and surgical problems.
The authors did not state how papers were selected for the review, or how many reviewers performed the selection.