Chronic Allograft Failure

This book addresses one of the largest unmet needs in transplantation, the need to reduce late allograft loss. In the current era, it is reasonable to expect that most allografts will serve their recipients through their life span and death with preserved graft function the ultimate goal for all transplant recipients. However, long term allograft survival has not paralleled improvements made in short term survival. Each year a percentage of the existing organ transplant patients will lose their grafts. The problem of late allograft failure is due in part to pathogenic processes, to drug management, and to transplant patient care delivery. This book pulls together the science in this area and serves as a resource and as a catalyst for further research. The book has been divided into sections covering the entirety of chronic allograft loss from basic science consideration to clinical implications. The goal of this book is to provide the reader with an overview of long term problems in solid organ transplantation. This overview not only includes the diagnosis of immunologic and non-immunologic causes of chronic graft loss but current management as well as novel therapies for future application. This book will make a useful contribution to the literature.