[Immunology in medical practice. XXX. Organ transplantation: indications and results]

During the past 30 years, solid organ transplantation has developed into a routine medical procedure. Currently, one-year transplant survival rates for kidney, heart, liver and pancreas are between 80 and 90%; for most organs, the long-term results are fair with 5-year survival rates of 60%. Inclusion criteria for potential recipients have become less stringent. These days, potential recipients are rarely excluded on the basis of their calendar age alone. The development of more and stronger immunosuppressive drugs has facilitated transplantation across wider immunological differences between donor and recipient with good results. While the number of patients on the waiting lists for organ transplantation increased, the number of organs offered for donation decreased. This has resulted in waiting times of several years for most organ transplantations. While the short-term outcome has improved significantly over the past decades, the long-term outcome has not. Most renal transplants, for example, are lost due to chronic rejection. The challenge for the future will be to improve the long-term outcome of organ transplantation and to decrease the morbidity associated with chronic immunosuppressive therapy.