[Organ transplantation: development, possibilities, socioeconomic aspects]

The dramatic development in clinical organ transplantation has been continued and expanded. Due to the discovery and clinical application of Cyclosporin A--the most potent immunosuppressive drug so far known--the results (1-year-graft survival rate) in the field of kidney, pancreas, liver and heart transplantation have drastically improved. This has led to a remarkable widening of indications for the different types of organ transplantation. The surgical technique of organ transplantation has been solved in kidney, liver, and heart transplantation, but remains to be solved in pancreatic transplantation. The evaluation from the medical-insurance--print of view of this surgical treatment should be restricted to successfully kidney transplanted patients at the time being. It has to be stressed that a success can be assessed only from the 2nd year post-transplant on words. According to considerations on the basis of medical insurance high risk factors have to be distinguished in regard to the transplant (e.g. poor HLA-matching) as well as to the patients (age, secondary diseases, etc.).