title: History of solid organ transplantation and organ donation.
abstract: Solid organ transplantation is one of the most remarkable and dramatic therapeutic advances in medicine during the past 60 years. This field has progressed initially from what can accurately be termed a "clinical experiment" to routine and reliable practice, which has proven to be clinically effective, life-saving and cost-effective. This remarkable evolution stems from a serial confluence of: cultural acceptance; legal and political evolution to facilitate organ donation, procurement and allocation; technical and cognitive advances in organ preservation, surgery, immunology, immunosuppression; and management of infectious diseases. Some of the major milestones of this multidisciplinary clinical science are reviewed in this article.
authors.affiliation: University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, Department of Critical Care Medicine, 3550 Terrace Street, PA 15261, USA. lindenpk@ccm.upmc.edu
authors.forename: Peter K
authors.initials: PK
authors.lastname: Linden
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D003422:Critical Care / Q000266:history; D016572:Cyclosporine / Q000266:history / Q000627:therapeutic use; D014943:Global Health; D016027:Heart Transplantation / Q000266:history; D006650:Histocompatibility Testing / Q000266:history; D049673:History, 20th Century; D049674:History, 21st Century; D049690:History, Ancient; D006801:Humans; D007165:Immunosuppression Therapy / Q000266:history / Q000379:methods; D007166:Immunosuppressive Agents / Q000266:history / Q000627:therapeutic use; D016030:Kidney Transplantation / Q000266:history; D016031:Liver Transplantation / Q000266:history; D016040:Lung Transplantation / Q000266:history; D023421:Models, Animal; D016377:Organ Transplantation / Q000266:history* / Q000379:methods; D016035:Pancreas Transplantation / Q000266:history; D016559:Tacrolimus / Q000266:history / Q000627:therapeutic use; D009927:Tissue and Organ Procurement / Q000266:history* / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence / Q000379:methods / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D014481:United States
chemical_list: D007166:Immunosuppressive Agents; D016572:Cyclosporine; D016559:Tacrolimus