[The cost aspects of organ transplantation]

The costs of different transplantation procedures are analysed. The costs which are not covered by the regular hospital allowance are presented using kidney transplantation as an example. It can be demonstrated that the main costs of transplantation arise from post-operative medication. At the moment these costs are not completely covered by the special remunerations for kidney transplantation. Nevertheless kidney transplantation is the most cost-saving of all kidney replacement therapy procedures: during a three-year-treatment period a successful kidney transplantation will save 53% of costs in comparison to home dialysis, 49% compared to CAPD and 61% in the case of Limited-Care-dialysis.