When a kidney patient is in need of a transplant, they often turn to their family members, hoping one of them can donate the organ they need to survive. But in more than half of cases, family members can't donate because their blood type doesn't match the recipient.

But now, doctors in Toronto are trying to increase the number of possible kidney donors with a new device they hope can fix the blood compatibility problem.

George Alvarez is a kidney patient who has already used the device. When his kidney failed and he needed a new one, his wife, Maria Moya, offered hers right away. But because Maria has blood type B and George has type O, doctors knew that the antibodies in George's blood would eventually attack the donated kidney and the organ would fail.

But doctors at St. Michael's Hospital in Toronto offered a solution: the Glycosorb ABO, a device that can wash antibodies right out of George's blood.

St. Mike's was the first hospital in North America to use the device, which was approved by Health Canada last year and developed by a Swedish company called Glycorex Transplantation.

The device is added to a plasmapheresis machine, which separates a patient's plasma from their blood. The device traps blood group antibodies, removing only the anti-A or anti-B antibodies, and sparing the other antibodies.

Over the course of a few hours, the "washed" plasma is then returned to the patient's body, explains Dr. Jeff Zaltzman, director of the hospital's kidney transplant program.

"Basically, we can think of this as a sponge and what the sponge is doing is picking up these antibodies that the recipient has that would destroy that kidney," he says.

"As the blood goes through this little filter or sponge, the bad stuff gets bound to it and the good stuff gets filtered back to the recipient."

Though George still faces a lifetime of taking anti-rejection drugs, he says he is a new man since his transplant.

"My recovery was fast. Even the day after surgery, I stand up. I walk right away. So I feel born again," he says.

He adds that he's also pleased that he has a little bit of his wife inside him.

"I feel my wife in my heart and my kidney, both together," he says with a smile.

The process is not inexpensive – the actual filter used in the device costs about $6,000 per patient and so far, is not covered by provincial health plans.

It's only been used on a handful of kidney patients at St. Mike's, as well as one heart transplant patient in Alberta. But Zaltzman hopes the procedure will eventually allow more kidney patients to get off dialysis and expand the number of living organ donors.

Kidneys donated by a live donor are more valued than kidneys from deceased donors, because they can function for 15 to 20 years -- about five to 10 years longer than one from a deceased donor.

Not only can patients live longer, they can get off costly dialysis, says Zaltzman.

"The ultimate benefit for every patient who gets a transplant is that they can avoid dialysis. They can have a better quality of life," he says.

With a report from CTV medical specialist Avis Favaro and producer Elizabeth St. Philip

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