Present status at the Vienna Transplantation Center after four thousand renal transplantations

The Division of Transplantation at the Medical University of Vienna, Austria was established by Dr Franz Piza, who performed the first deceased donor kidney transplantation in Vienna in 1965. During the next 43 years, 4,849 transplants were performed at this unit. Data were analysed in the time period 1993-2006 for 2,165 deceased donor transplants (1,734 first and 431 regrafts) and 263 living donor transplants. Long-term follow-up was available for more than 95% of all grafts and all recipients had at least 9 months of follow-up. Two- and 6-year graft survival rates were 81.4% and 66.3%, respectively, for first deceased donor grafts, 76.1% and 61.8% for regrafts and 91.5% and 79.1% for living transplants. Appropriate immunosuppression, HLA matching and crossmatching supported by solid basic scientific research have proved successful in achieving good graft survival at our unit.