Recent progress in intestinal transplantation.

Transplantation of the kidney, liver, or heart is now a well established and successful treatment for irreversible organ failure. It has been much more difficult to achieve success in intestinal transplantation, although experimental and clinical work has been carried out in this field since the late 1950s. However, in the last three years there have been several successful human small bowel transplants in both adults and children. The problems associated with intestinal transplantation include difficulties with preservation and operative technique, as well as a high incidence of rejection, graft-versus-host disease (GVHD), and postoperative infection. These problem areas are discussed and the history of human small bowel transplantation is reviewed.