Replacement of an organ increases the life span and contributes to the well being of many patients with kidney, heart or liver failure. Although patients with kidney failure can be treated by dialysis, the best solution is for them to receive a new kidney. In the case of liver, heart and/or lung failure, transplantation is the only alternative and such operations are now performed in specialised clinics all over the world. Certain other organs, such as the pancreas or small intestine or sometimes several organs simultaneously, can now also be transplanted.

Organ Transplantation

Kidney transplantation
Since the first successful human kidney transplant in 1954, considerable progress has been made in kidney transplantation. Today, kidney transplantation is widely performed and is restricted mainly by the limited number of organs available for transplantation. One-year survival of the transplanted kidney is 85-90 percent and the incidence of patient death is very low. In some cases a simultaneous kidney and pancreas transplant is performed and here, too, success rates have improved.

Children with kidney failure have a better chance of long-term survival after transplantation than with dialysis.

Heart and lung transplantation
Heart transplantation, first attempted in the late 1960s, has become the accepted therapy for patients with severe heart failure not responding to other forms of treatment. To date, over 46,000 patients have received a heart transplant, and around 3,000 to 4,000 heart transplant operations are performed every year.

Patients whose lungs no longer function may receive either a single or a double lung transplant. Sometimes a simultaneous heart/lung transplantation is performed.

Liver transplantation
In patients with severe liver failure, transplantation is the only option. In 1998, more than 4,450 liver transplants were performed in the United States and 3,500 in Europe.

Problem of Rejection
The greatest threat to transplant patients is early rejection of the transplanted organ by the body's own immune system. For this reason, the patient has to take drugs to suppress the immune response and prevent rejection. A combination of several drugs is usually given and this treatment has to be continued indefinitely.

Rejection of the new kidney by the patient's immune system can lead to loss of the transplanted organ and a return to dialysis. For heart, lung and liver transplant patients, loss of the transplanted organ presents an immediate threat to life.

Although the drugs used are effective in reducing or preventing rejection, they can also cause problems. Some drugs that suppress the immune response may have harmful effects on the kidneys or other organs and body systems. These drugs can also make the patient susceptible to infections.

Roche and Transplantation
Roche continues to make a strong commitment to improve the success rate of transplantation while enhancing the quality of life for the patient. In July 1998, Roche also announced the establishment of the "Roche Organ Transplantation Research Foundation". Roche has pledged 25 million Swiss francs to this new non-profit foundation for the first 5 years.