© 2014 American Society for Parenteral and Enteral Nutrition

ncp.sagepub.com hosted at online.sagepub.com Invited Review The incidence in the United States of end-stage renal disease (ESRD), defined as total and permanent kidney failure requir-ing dialysis or transplantation, has increased from almost 100 per million population in 1981 to approximately 350 per million in 2009.1 U.S. data from 2010 reveal that 413,725 people were treated with dialysis.2 The survival benefits of transplantation over dialysis have been well studied.3,4 The Kidney Dialysis Outcome Quality Initiative issued a statement5 promoting efforts to educate all patients about the benefits of preemptive renal transplantation. Organ donations (both from deceased and live donors) hav