Year: 2007
Type: dissertation
Abstract: Liver transplantation has become the only definitive therapy for end stage liver disease. In the\nearly days of liver transplantation, short term patient and graft survival was strongly depending\non the surgical technique and the immune system of the recipient. The first successful\nliver transplantation was performed by Dr. Thomas Starzl in 1967 (1). After the enhancement\nof the surgical technique with improvement of preservation solutions and operative strategy,\nadequate anti-rejection treatment was the key factor to further progress. A major step forward\nwas set after the discovery of calcineurin inhibiting immunosuppressive agents: cyclosporine\nA and later tacrolimus. Cyclosporine was first introduced by Sir Roy Calne and colleagues in\n1979 (2), causing a prominent improvement of patient and graft survival. Since then calcineurin\ninhibitors are universally applied in the immunosuppressive treatment following liver transplantation.\nPresently, the success of solid-organ transplantation depends on the continuous\nadministration of immunosuppressive agents, which unfortunately are toxic and cause severe\ncomplications. These complications include increased risks for opportunistic infections, malignancy,\ncardiovascular and renal complications as well as a variety of agent-specific side\neffects. Immunosuppression-related complications are nowadays the most important determinants\nof long-term patient survival and quality of life (3, 4).
Author: Ahmet Demerkiran
Language: English
Subfield: Surgery
Field: Medicine
Domain: Health Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W1625471298