This study consisted of a literature review that examined discursive production on kidney transplantation with a living donor. It sought to understand the interpretative repertoires of living kidney donation that have been constructed and disseminated in the medical literature, through examination of a selection of scientific papers. Eighty-nine articles published in international journals between 1999 and 2010 were analyzed. The analysis highlighted a set of topics that could be grouped along two thematic strands: psychosocial aspects of donation and strategies for increasing the number of living donors. These strands are anchored in the metaphors of "gift" and "commodity". Both of them aim towards promoting organ donation and have specific effects. The gift metaphor compels individuals to make a spontaneous and altruistic donation; the commodity metaphor constructs the body as a collection of recyclable parts that are subject to commercial exchange.
Kidney transplantation; Living donors; Discourse