Modern immunosuppressive regimens for organ transplantation have resulted in excellent short-term results but less dramatic improvements in long-term outcomes. Moreover, they are associated with significant deleterious effects. One solution that should avoid the adverse drug effects and result in improved graft and patient longevity as well as positively impacting on the organ shortage is the e...

Kidney transplantation in patients with end stage renal disease is preferred to dialysis because transplantation provides a better quality of life and improved survival. However, the gap between the supply and demand for a renal allograft is widening and the waiting time is increasing. Iranian protocol, a controlled transplant program supported by the government for living unrelated donors, was...

The processes leading to donor identification, consent, organ procurement, and allocation continue to dominate debates and efforts in the field of transplantation. A considerable shortage of donors remains while the number of patients needing organ transplantation increases. This article reviews the main trends in organ donation practices and procurement patterns from both deceased and living s...

OBJECTIVE To determine whether recently bereaved people would object to being asked about organ donation immediately after the death of their relative. METHODS A telephone interview of 78 recently bereaved relatives of people who had died in an inner city accident and emergency (A&E) department; 68 (87%) agreed to participate in the study and were sent a questionnaire. Outcome measures were v...

BACKGROUND Advanced organ failure is often classified as an end-stage disease where the treatment options are limited only to transplantation. As an alternative, different attempts have been undertaken to improve the outcome of the treatment of failing organs by using targeted ex vivo approaches. This may solve the issue of organ shortage by treating the donor organs before transplantation and ...

The rate of organ donations from deceased donors in Malaysia is among the lowest in the world. This may be because of the passivity among health professionals in approaching families of potential donors. A questionnaire-based study was conducted amongst health professionals in two tertiary hospitals in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Four hundred and sixty-two questionnaires were completed. 93.3% of he...

Transplantation is the accepted mode of treatment for patients with end-stage organ disease affecting the heart, lungs, kidney, pancreas, liver and intestine. Long-term outcomes have significantly improved and the aim of management is no longer only long-term survival, but also focuses on quality of life especially in children. Transplantation in Africa faces a number of challenges including wi...

Organ transplantation is limited by the shortage of human organs. Many studies have sought to overcome this hurdle by using animal organs. Porcine organs, especially from miniature pigs, have been used for organ xenotransplantation rather than nonhuman primates. While the molecular profiling for transplantation is well known in humans and rodents, the situation for pigs is almost completely unk...

Oxidative stress is one of the key mechanisms affecting the outcome throughout the course of organ transplantation. It is widely believed that the redox balance is dysregulated during ischemia and reperfusion (I/R) and causes subsequent oxidative injury, resulting from the formation of reactive oxygen species (ROS). Moreover, in order to alleviate organ shortage, increasing number of grafts is ...

End-stage liver disease is a life threatening health problem to millions of people worldwide. Orthotopic liver transplantation is the only therapy for the definitive cure at the present time. However, persistent shortage in donor organs limits the opportunity for patients to receive this treatment. Liver tissue engineering aims to overcome this restriction by generating functional tissue constr...