title: Organ transplantation: historical perspective and current practice.
abstract: Over the course of the last century, organ transplantation has overcome major technical limitations to become the success it is today. The breakthroughs include developing techniques for vascular anastomoses, managing the immune response (initially by avoiding it with the use of identical twins and subsequently controlling it with chemical immunosuppressants), and devising preservation solutions that enable prolonged periods of ex vivo storage while preserving function. One challenge that has remained from the outset is to overcome the shortage of suitable donor organs. The results of organ transplantation continue to improve, both as a consequence of the above innovations and the improvements in peri- and postoperative management. This review describes some of the achievements and challenges of organ transplantation.
authors.affiliation: University Department of Surgery, NIHR Cambridge Biomedical Research Centre, Addenbrooke's Hospital, Cambridge CB2 0QQ, UK. cjew2@cam.ac.uk
authors.forename: C J E
authors.initials: CJ
authors.lastname: Watson
authors.forename: J H
authors.initials: JH
authors.lastname: Dark
mesh_terms: D049673:History, 20th Century; D049674:History, 21st Century; D006801:Humans; D007165:Immunosuppression Therapy / Q000266:history / Q000379:methods; D009926:Organ Preservation / Q000379:methods; D016377:Organ Transplantation / Q000266:history* / Q000379:methods; D009927:Tissue and Organ Procurement / Q000379:methods / Q000639:trends; D016896:Treatment Outcome