[Present-day situation with regard to the transplantation of the small intestine]

At the time of writing, seven transplantations of intestine in man have been carried out, three of these being in children. All the patients eventually died. The longest survival time was 75 days. The animal experiments on the various problems of small-intestine transplantation, tolerance of ischemia, preservation of transplants, section of lymph vessels and nerves and the problem of rejection are summarized with reference to the literature and the Author's own investigations. Transplantation of the small intestine is only justified if all the other possibilities have been exhausted. The Author attempted to lay down provisional guidelines on the indications for transplantation of the intestine. With the necessarily strict indications, the patients coming into question are likely to be rare and must be concentrated in a small number of specielized centers.