und to repress the rejection response, making transplantation possible. The discovery in the 1970s and the introduction in the early 1980s of cyclosporine, a more effective immunosuppressant drug, substantially improved the success rates for transplant surgery (Clayman, 1989).
Heart transplantation was not achieved in animals until 1959, and it was in 1967 that South African surgeon Christian Bernard carried out the first human heart transplantation (Clayman, 1989). Early results were disappointing, with only a few patients surviving more than a month or two; in 1969, a team of surgeons from Stanford University lead by Professor Norman Shumway began a program that by 1984 showed that up to 85 percent of patients receiving a donor heart could survive for at least a year after surgery (Clayman, 1989). Similarly, early efforts at heart-lung transplants were unsuccessful, and the introduction of immunosuppressants in the 1980s is associated with improved success in this area.
Kidney transplants, next to corneal transplants the most frequent type of transplant surgery performed in the U.S. and abroad, is characterized as more straightforward than other transplant surgeries. Other transplants include simultaneous heart and lung transplants, liver transplants, and pancreas replacements. Clayman (1989) has commented that the number of specific transplant operations performed depends annually on several conditions: 1) demand and availability; 2) selection criteria; 3) matching issues; and 4) limited numbers of specialist centers offering the procedure.
Kelly (1998) has reported that as medical practitioners have gained enhanced knowledge about post-transplant care, the possibilities of success and longer life spans following transplant surgery have increased. One of the most striking advances in the field in the past 10-12 years, is the use of transplant surgery among younger pediatric patients. Additionally, older transplant ...