[Kidney transplantation in Norway--a historical perspective].
Until the late 1950s, few treatment modalities for patients with chronic renal failure were available. The first successful renal transplantation was performed in Boston, USA in 1954 when a young man with renal failure received a kidney from his monozygotic twin brother. Tissue typing was not available, there were few options for immunosuppressive treatment, and dialysis could be offered for short-term treatment only. At the Surgical Department A of the National Hospital, Oslo, Norway, treatment of acute renal failure by hemodialysis was started in 1956 and the first renal transplantation in Scandinavia performed the same year. In 1963, the first renal transplantation at Ullevål Hospital, Oslo was performed, the first in Norway with a long-term function transplant. Since 1983, all renal transplantations in Norway have been performed at the National Hospital. In 1969, Scandiatransplant was established as an organisation for organ exchange between the Scandinavian countries, and a national program for renal transplantation in Norway was launched. The Norwegian renal transplant program is based on co-operation between regional and central hospitals and the transplant centre at the National Hospital. In recent years, the number of renal transplantations per year has been 180-200, i.e. 40-45 per million population. Approximately 40% of the transplanted kidneys come from living related or spouse donors. The results in terms of renal graft survival are good.
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Nyreseksjonen Medisinsk avdeling Rikshospitalet, Oslo.
D049673:History, 20th Century; D006801:Humans; D016030:Kidney Transplantation / Q000266:history* / Q000276:immunology / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D009313:National Health Programs; D009664:Norway / Q000453:epidemiology; D016896:Treatment Outcome