Description

Organ transplantation is increasingly complex and at the same time increasingly effective. The lengthening waiting list for cadaver organs now exceeds the supply several-fold. Most practicing physicians encounter only a few transplant recipients during a year of practice. This volume was written as a quick, but comprehensive, reference for medical students, residents, fellows, nurses, and practicing physicians who interface intermittently with recipients and transplant teams. It contains twentyone chapters and twelve essays; together they present the standard of practice and also controversial issues such as the ethical dilemma of long waiting lists, noncompliance with long-term immunosuppression, the relationship between acute and chronic rejection, the living organ donor, the older cadaver donor, laparoscopic nephrectomy, retransplantation, organ banks and the national transplant network's criteria for allocating organs to potential recipients, and the promise of xenotransplantation. Appendix I includes detailed information about immunosuppressive drugs.