[Possibilities and limits of kidney transplantation]

Chronic haemodialysis and renal transplantation are mutually supplementing methods for the treatment of patients with terminal renal lesion. The two methods have proved their worth in clinical practice. The expectance of life of patients with chronic renal insufficiency could essentially be improved during the last years. In last consequence the successes of the transplantation of kidneys depend on the solution of immunobiological problems, which are not yet cleared up nowadays. 1. In the determination of genotypical determinants possibly not all are known or recognizable. 2. The at present clinically usable examination methods do not yet allow to recognize rejections so early that by an aimed immunosuppressive treatment irreversible damages on the graft may be prevented. After a transplantation of kidneys of relatives a long survival time of transplanted patients is better than after a transplantation of kidneys taken from dead bodies. The rejection is still the main factor of the failure of the graft, the sepsis is the most frequent cause of death. It is neccessary, to develop less toxical remedies for the adaptation of the graft. Nevertheless, thousands of optimally transplanted patients prove the usefulness of the allogenic transplantation of the kidney.