Progress in homotransplantation of the kidney has been reviewed. This form of therapy for the patient with terminal uremia has resulted in a 2-year survival of more than 50% at the University of Colorado Medical Center, excluding from consideration identical twin cases. The best results were with the use of kidneys obtained from familial donors; when this has been possible the 2-year survival is almost 2/3. With randomly selected non-related living donors the 2-year survival was only 22%.
Although these results indicate the great potential value of organ transplantation, the techniques being employed today are imperfect. The need for progress with better immunosuppression, better histocompatibility analysis, and better organ preservation are outlined.