Facilities location of organ transplant network with backup transplant centers

Articles in Press

Document Type : Persian Research paper

Authors

1 Dept. of Industrial & Systems Eng. Isfahan Univ. of Tech.

2 Department of Industrial and Systems Eng. Isfahan Univ. pf tech

10.22108/pom.2026.147333.1644

Abstract

Organ transplantation is a crucial approach for restoring the function of damaged organs by transferring a healthy organ from a donor (living or deceased) to a recipient. However, a mismatch between supply and demand creates long waiting lists and increases patient mortality before transplantation. This issue underscores the need to optimize the organ donation process and its efficient utilization. The organ transplantation network comprises procurement centers, transplantation centers, hospitals, donors, and patients. Determining the optimal locations for these facilities and their allocation can reduce transportation time and, consequently, save lives.



This study introduces a bi-objective integer programming model for the location–allocation problem in the organ transplantation network. In addition to minimizing the establishment and flow costs between centers, the model also aims to maximize inter-center throughput. To account for potential unavailability of transplant centers, a backup center is designated for each main center.



For solving large-scale instances, a heuristic algorithm based on multi-objective refrigeration simulation is proposed. Results using Ministry of Health data indicate that this algorithm outperforms the generalized epsilon-constraint method for medium- to large-scale problems.

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Main Subjects

Research in Production and Operations Management

Articles in Press, Accepted Manuscript
Available Online from 04 July 2026

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