Kidney transplantation.
The future of kidney transplantation lies in advancement in two areas: well-matched donors to recipients and immunosuppression. Improvement in the effectiveness of transplantation is dependent upon these two areas. The cadaver donor pool needs to be increased not only to allow every person waiting for transplant of a kidney, but to ensure a well-matched kidney. Better immunosuppression that will increase graft survival and decrease side effects is an important area of research at this time. We have come a long way in the 27 years that immunosuppression has been used and in the 35 years that kidney transplants have been performed in this nation. We can hope that the next 35 years bring improvements in the science of kidney transplantation.