Einstein (São Paulo) (Mar 2005)
Liver transplants
Abstract
Liver transplantation has always fascinated humanity, this fact issupported by historical reports of ancient civilizations. The firstliver transplant was performed in 1955, in experimental animals.Human liver transplant was first attempted by Thomas Starzl in1963, but was unsuccessful. Latter, in 1967, the same groupdescribed the first successful human ortotopic liver transplant inhistory. Many facts contributed for the triumph of this procedureand among them we can point out the improvements of surgicaltechniques, the development of preservation solutions, discoveryof better antibiotics, appearance of the concept of intensive careunit and the most important mark in transplant survival –cyclosporine as a new immunossuppression agent. In Brazil, thefirst human liver transplant with prolonged survival was in 1985and was fulfilled by the Liver Unit. This same team was latterresponsible for the world’s first description of living donor livertransplantation. Brazilian’s legislation has improved in order touse wisely the resources related to transplant programs and thisincludes the grafts that are so scarce for the demand of patientson our waiting lists. Another great necessity is to create aeducational effort aimed to general population and medical socialgroup to instruct and show the importance of organ donation, butall these efforts will be usefulness if public health policies fail toput in practice actions that will improve the organization andrationalization of equipment and human resources in emergencymedical centers.
